I remember this! A company, MaxMind, provided GeoIP mapping, but the default unknown for the US was right on someone's property, which lead to severe distress and (quite reasonably) a lawsuit [0]. A horrifying example of peculiar glitches causing real harm :(
> A horrifying example of ~peculiar glitches~ incompetent people with monopoly on violence causing real harm :(
The people who authorize the raids aren't supposed to blindly rely on tech without being aware of its limitations.
A person who doesn't understand that GeoIP doesn't give you coordinates to raid should not be in a position to send raids to such coordinates, and is the one ultimately responsible for this.
The fact that there will be no consequences for them is the real issue.
People are people. First responders are told to go to a place and do a thing. That is what they do. They do this dozens of times a day. Sometimes the computer is stupid.
They are not just "people," they're people with guns and the power to kill innocent citizens and destroy their property with barely any consequences. It's reasonable to expect them to be a bit careful about their job.
It is reasonable to expect, but also they won't. The solution is fixing the software rather than being indignant about how people should use it correctly.
>First responders are told to go to a place and do a thing.
By whom? There's still a human blindly trusting what the computer says somewhere in the loop, and we can and should expect them to do due diligence for a matter where lives are on the line, like a raid.
You can “expect” all you like, but doing so won’t make it better. The best way to solve this problem would, as you say, to have people do better. But that is not happening, and the problem still needs solving as soon as possible.
>You can “expect” all you like, but doing so won’t make it better. The best way to solve this problem would, as you say, to have people do better. But that is not happening, and the problem still needs solving as soon as possible.
Yes.
And this is what #defundthepolice is about, once you learn enough about it.
[0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/09/maxmind-m...