Why Raspberry Pi's New Hire Caused a Social Media Firestorm (buzzfeednews.com) 206
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: Joe Bowser is a computer scientist based in Port Moody, British Columbia, who has long loved Raspberry Pis. He uses the low-cost, single-board computers, which were launched in February 2012 by a UK-based company of the same name, for many of his tech projects. Those include linking the Raspberry Pi up to a 3D printer, and using the Pi to run a machine-learning demo. There's one use case that Bowser described as "the most important": using a Raspberry Pi to identify the use of IMSI catchers -- telephone eavesdropping devices that snoop on phone calls and text messages -- by law enforcement. Protesters opposing new oil pipelines happen to pass by Bowser's house regularly. He thinks cops shouldn't spy on them. So he's trying to help out the protesters using his tech knowledge. To do that, he uses Raspberry Pis. Or more accurately, he did. Bowser has forsworn using the computers ever again. He and many others are expressing their displeasure with the company on social media.
The controversy began yesterday when Raspberry Pi posted an announcement on Twitter and Mastodon: "We hired a policeman and it's going really great." The company linked to a laudatory blog post on its website announcing it had hired an ex-police officer, Toby Roberts, as its maker-in-residence. "I was a Technical Surveillance Officer for 15 years, so I built stuff to hide video, audio, and other covert gear," Roberts is quoted as saying in the post. "You really don't want your sensitive police equipment discovered, so I'd disguise it as something else, like a piece of street furniture or a household item. The variety of tools and equipment I used then really shaped what I do today." A subsection of the Raspberry Pi community expressed concern about the blase way the company presented intrusive covert surveillance. (The news caused particular ire on Mastodon, leading some to describe Roberts as the burgeoning social media platform's first "main character.") [...]
Liz Upton, Raspberry Pi's cofounder and chief marketing officer, told BuzzFeed she believes that much of the issue stems not from the hiring of the former police officer who admitted to using Raspberry Pis for covert surveillance, but instead from a picture the account posted to Mastodon a day earlier showing pigs in blankets. "We didn't put a content warning on it, because we don't put a content warning on meat," Upton said. "There were quite a few people who tried to start dogpiling on that." She also claimed that part of the vitriolic response could be because Raspberry Pi is struggling with supply chain difficulties at present, and people "were already cross." "I think what we're looking at is a dogpile that's being organized somewhere," Upton said. "There's obviously a Discord or a forum somewhere." She did not provide evidence to support that claim. "I don't think this is organic, but it's very unpleasant, and extraordinarily unpleasant for the people involved," she said. Upton claimed both Roberts and Raspberry Pi's social media manager have been doxxed and received death threats. "I am disgusted that [Raspberry Pi's] official post on Toby Roberts' hiring promotes his use of their products to surveil individuals without their consent," Matt Lewis, a Denver-based site reliability engineer, wrote via Twitter DM. "In my eyes, this behavior is completely unethical and the work Toby has done for 15 years is indefensible. I'm also upset that they have chosen to double down on this position against the community outrage."
"I think this event will mark a turning point in the organization's reputation," added Wikipedia consultant Pete Forsyth in a Twitter DM. "It's hard to see how they can recover the trust they seem to have almost willfully dismantled today."
Not everyone is downbeat about the future of the company. University of Surrey cybersecurity professor Alan Woodward called Roberts an "interesting hire" for Raspberry Pi. "His previous uses of the Pi shows just what a versatile device it is: I'm sure he's not the only one using the smallest variants to make covert devices," Woodward said. "You find that you have to be very creative to build these types of covert devices, so hopefully he can now bring that to his new role, for a wider variety of applications."
"It's not as if he is going to corrupt any of the Pis -- like all technology, it has some uses some people will object to," he said. Rather, Woodward believes "the loudest objectors are taking it a bit far. Maybe they could look at it as a glass-half-full situation: Think of the unusual innovations he might bring."
The controversy began yesterday when Raspberry Pi posted an announcement on Twitter and Mastodon: "We hired a policeman and it's going really great." The company linked to a laudatory blog post on its website announcing it had hired an ex-police officer, Toby Roberts, as its maker-in-residence. "I was a Technical Surveillance Officer for 15 years, so I built stuff to hide video, audio, and other covert gear," Roberts is quoted as saying in the post. "You really don't want your sensitive police equipment discovered, so I'd disguise it as something else, like a piece of street furniture or a household item. The variety of tools and equipment I used then really shaped what I do today." A subsection of the Raspberry Pi community expressed concern about the blase way the company presented intrusive covert surveillance. (The news caused particular ire on Mastodon, leading some to describe Roberts as the burgeoning social media platform's first "main character.") [...]
Liz Upton, Raspberry Pi's cofounder and chief marketing officer, told BuzzFeed she believes that much of the issue stems not from the hiring of the former police officer who admitted to using Raspberry Pis for covert surveillance, but instead from a picture the account posted to Mastodon a day earlier showing pigs in blankets. "We didn't put a content warning on it, because we don't put a content warning on meat," Upton said. "There were quite a few people who tried to start dogpiling on that." She also claimed that part of the vitriolic response could be because Raspberry Pi is struggling with supply chain difficulties at present, and people "were already cross." "I think what we're looking at is a dogpile that's being organized somewhere," Upton said. "There's obviously a Discord or a forum somewhere." She did not provide evidence to support that claim. "I don't think this is organic, but it's very unpleasant, and extraordinarily unpleasant for the people involved," she said. Upton claimed both Roberts and Raspberry Pi's social media manager have been doxxed and received death threats. "I am disgusted that [Raspberry Pi's] official post on Toby Roberts' hiring promotes his use of their products to surveil individuals without their consent," Matt Lewis, a Denver-based site reliability engineer, wrote via Twitter DM. "In my eyes, this behavior is completely unethical and the work Toby has done for 15 years is indefensible. I'm also upset that they have chosen to double down on this position against the community outrage."
"I think this event will mark a turning point in the organization's reputation," added Wikipedia consultant Pete Forsyth in a Twitter DM. "It's hard to see how they can recover the trust they seem to have almost willfully dismantled today."
Not everyone is downbeat about the future of the company. University of Surrey cybersecurity professor Alan Woodward called Roberts an "interesting hire" for Raspberry Pi. "His previous uses of the Pi shows just what a versatile device it is: I'm sure he's not the only one using the smallest variants to make covert devices," Woodward said. "You find that you have to be very creative to build these types of covert devices, so hopefully he can now bring that to his new role, for a wider variety of applications."
"It's not as if he is going to corrupt any of the Pis -- like all technology, it has some uses some people will object to," he said. Rather, Woodward believes "the loudest objectors are taking it a bit far. Maybe they could look at it as a glass-half-full situation: Think of the unusual innovations he might bring."
I think all these people (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I think all these people (Score:4, Insightful)
that participate in ridiculous social media firestorms, need to experience being on the receiving end of a firestorm and see how they like it. Be a little understanding and forgiving. Try not to be nasty, the Rpi foundation is a good origination overall.
Let's change it to a web cam manufacturer hiring somebody who for 15 years spent their time hiding web cams in various ways to spy on people. Does that make it any better? Nope - this was a bad hire.
Re:I think all these people (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's change it to a web cam manufacturer hiring somebody who for 15 years spent their time hiding web cams in various ways to spy on people. Does that make it any better? Nope - this was a bad hire.
I'm curious as to how that is actually a change. RP is a web cam manufacturer, and who did just spend 15 years hiding web cams in various way to spy on people.
I supposed you're trying to compare police surveillance (most likely with a warrant) to pervs putting cams in toilets. That seems to be the mentality of the "I hate the cops" crowd. Until they need the police, that is.
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Let's change it to a web cam manufacturer hiring somebody who for 15 years spent their time hiding web cams in various ways to spy on people. Does that make it any better? Nope - this was a bad hire.
I'm curious as to how that is actually a change. RP is a web cam manufacturer, and who did just spend 15 years hiding web cams in various way to spy on people.
I supposed you're trying to compare police surveillance (most likely with a warrant) to pervs putting cams in toilets. That seems to be the mentality of the "I hate the cops" crowd. Until they need the police, that is.
The pi is not itself a web cam. The new hire used the pi for 15 years to covertly surveil people. How much of that was legal, we'll probably never know.
Re: I think all these people (Score:2)
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A simple search for "Raspberry pi spy cam" turns up loads of creative ideas. For example, this Coke bottle cam [raspberrypi.com]. Or even just a generic pitch [arducam.com] for spy cameras for the Pi.
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And mice are not operating systems, yet Microsoft is an operating system manufacturer.
Re: I think all these people (Score:2)
The only reason you will never know is ironclad supporters of the politicians and political parties that determine police policy.
Partisanship means never questioning your leaders, never holding them accountable, and never, ever connecting their appointed and elected officials with police policy.
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It's a bit much to assume "police officer" = "criminal"
You haven't been paying attention. That is a perfectly reasonable assumption.
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You haven't been paying attention. That is a perfectly reasonable assumption.
No it isn't. The big problem with the cops is that they don't assume "innocent until proven guilty" and go about bending rules and occasionally shooting people because of that.
If we, who demand the application of the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" then applies the opposite rule to cops that doesn't actually help our case.
Re: I think all these people (Score:4, Insightful)
And yet cops are caught doing illegal stuff all the time. EVERY. DAMN. DAY.
How about the cop here who was supposed to protect a sexual violence victim, and raped her? Knowing that he would probably get away with it, because it's her word against a cop?
If it weren't for cell phone cameras, we would know even less.
We could do worse than fire half the cops for being dirty cops. And recruiting for more intelligent cops.
Re: I think all these people (Score:3, Insightful)
Your logic is faulty.
Non-cops are caught breaking the law every day. If we see someone who is not a cop, should we assume they are breaking the law?
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Your response has no logic.
If we have cell phone video of cops breaking the law, and convictions based on those videos of cops breaking the law, it's pretty safe to assume some cops break the law.
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that actually depends on your jurisdiction. in the EU, it's rather frowned upon on a criminal level
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So, what kind of freedoms do these hidden cameras inhibit?
Re: I think all these people (Score:2, Insightful)
Why is it so fucking hard to knock on the door and wait for someone to answer?
Amazon is the CAUSE of package theft. They're inability to deliver packages surreptitiously has led to an entire black market in porch shopping.
This wasn't a problem in the past. Delivery drivers used to knock on your door and wait for you to answer. They used to get a signature accepting the package. Now Amazon isn't willing to pay for that service and instead wants you to pay them to install a surveillance camera.
Not gonna happe
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The only thing its customers want to hear from Raspberry Pi this year is that they have solved or are making strides towards solving their supply chain failure. Their excitement over hiring someone whose major background is making yet more cases for the pi, and ones that inject the associate the pi with tech privacy concerns no less, was incredibly tone deaf.
Re: I think all these people (Score:2)
I've never been in a situation where the presence of the cops made anything better. Fuck cops they're subhuman pieces of shit.
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Let's change it to a web cam manufacturer
Did you figure that out using your jump to conclusions mat?
Re:I think all these people (Score:5, Insightful)
that participate in ridiculous social media firestorms, need to experience being on the receiving end of a firestorm and see how they like it. Be a little understanding and forgiving. Try not to be nasty, the Rpi foundation is a good origination overall.
Let's change it to a web cam manufacturer hiring somebody who for 15 years spent their time hiding web cams in various ways to spy on people. Does that make it any better? Nope - this was a bad hire.
It's a perfectly good hire if part of your customer base is people who, like the person you hired, have a good and legitimate reason to hide web cams and spy on people.
Now, it's not a good idea to overly publicize is since you don't want to encourage the illegitimate uses, but it's far from clear to me that extra publicity is due to the Raspberry Pi foundation or the people complaining.
People like this dude:
Joe Bowser is a computer scientist based in Port Moody, British Columbia, who has long loved Raspberry Pis. [...] There's one use case that Bowser described as "the most important": using a Raspberry Pi to identify the use of IMSI catchers -- telephone eavesdropping devices that snoop on phone calls and text messages -- by law enforcement. Protesters opposing new oil pipelines happen to pass by Bowser's house regularly. He thinks cops shouldn't spy on them
Why is the article implying that we should be taking moral guidance from a software developer calling himself a "computer scientist" who thinks he should be interfering in police investigations?
Re:I think all these people (Score:5, Insightful)
because that police investigation feels rather paid for by the pipeline operator, which turns it into a private investigation / harassment with public money, something that is illegal
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because that police investigation feels rather paid for by the pipeline operator, which turns it into a private investigation / harassment with public money, something that is illegal
If they're intercepting phone messages that means they have a warrant.
If they have a warrant that means there's at least some evidence of criminal activity.
And I don't know about these specific protesters, but previous ones have broken the law [globalnews.ca].
I realize the pipeline is controversial, and protests are allowed, but the circumstances where forcing your principals on others are very limited. And I don't think a fringe group of environmentalists, or a set of aboriginal activists who falsely claim to speak for their tribe should be given impunity to stall the development.
Seriously, you know how EASY it is go get a warrant? There are justices of the peace who will rubberstamp pretty much anything.
And seriously - "I don't know about these specific protesters, previous protesters had broken the law" - fortunately, the law doesn't work that way. Racial profiling targeting aboriginal protesters because they're aboriginal protesters - when you noted yourself that protests are allowed - is illegal.
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because that police investigation feels rather paid for by the pipeline operator, which turns it into a private investigation / harassment with public money, something that is illegal
If they're intercepting phone messages that means they have a warrant.
If they have a warrant that means there's at least some evidence of criminal activity.
And I don't know about these specific protesters, but previous ones have broken the law [globalnews.ca].
I realize the pipeline is controversial, and protests are allowed, but the circumstances where forcing your principals on others are very limited. And I don't think a fringe group of environmentalists, or a set of aboriginal activists who falsely claim to speak for their tribe should be given impunity to stall the development.
Seriously, you know how EASY it is go get a warrant? There are justices of the peace who will rubberstamp pretty much anything.
And seriously - "I don't know about these specific protesters, previous protesters had broken the law" - fortunately, the law doesn't work that way.
So what? I'm supposed to come up with specific instances of criminal wrongdoing by the unnamed protesters who are possibly under surveillance?
The fact is that being a protester is legal, violating a court injunction isn't. I have no idea why these unnamed protesters might be under surveillance. Perhaps it's overreach, perhaps there's extremist elements who might actually pose a danger. I'd rather that question be answered through lawsuits and public advocacy than some random hacker.
Re:I think all these people (Score:4)
The police have a long history of illegal racial profiling. The courts have called it out many times. So don't go claiming the police always obey the law. Driving while Black is a thing in Canada. Walking while Black is a thing in Canada. Refusing to take action against crimes committed against minorities is a thing.
This isn't to say all cops are bad - but there's no denying there's a pervasive culture of power, entitlement, white supremacy, and lawlessness.
And the "punishments" are ridiculous. Cop gets caught stealing? 2 day suspension. BFD. No criminal record "because he would lose his job." If he's a thief he SHOULD lose his job.
Why change the premise? (Score:5, Insightful)
'Wakeboarder' is right - this hire is not a perv or an ex-Taliban 'Sticky bomb' maker. He was a policeman, hired to ***help us***. Which he did.
His creations, being entirely legal, may have convicted the drug dealers and mafia types that would otherwise make our life hellish.
If you are so concerned about human rights, be concerned with the rights of this ex-policeman. He is human. In fact you or me may have chosen his career path, if we had different influences at critical moments in our life.
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Drug dealers have always made my life better, not hellish.
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'Wakeboarder' is right - this hire is not a perv or an ex-Taliban 'Sticky bomb' maker. He was a policeman, hired to ***help us***. Which he did.
haha
The cops' job is to maintain the status quo, not to help you. If it were to help you, they would be obligated to do that. They aren't.
Re:Why change the premise? (Score:4, Informative)
> His creations, being entirely legal,
Legal does not mean ethical or moral. Apartheid used to be legal in South Africa. Segregation used to be legal in the USA. Mass surveillance used to be legal in 1984.
Re:Why change the premise? (Score:5, Insightful)
The evil drug laws aren't caused by police, they're caused by congresspeople. Police should enforce what the law says, not make up their own arbitrary ideas.
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The evil drug laws aren't caused by police, they're caused by congresspeople. Police should enforce what the law says, not make up their own arbitrary ideas.
The drug enforcement laws in the US, like most US laws, are heavily racially biased in favour of white men. As your former president said: "I could walk down 5th avenue and shoot someone and not lose votes." Driving While White isn't an offense. Driving While Black is. We keep having the cops committing racially motivated hate crimes, and it's only because of cell phone cameras that we're finally seeing them being caught.
Re: Why change the premise? (Score:4)
Well, with this guy coming to RPi foundation to do maker stuff, you can think of it as coming over to the libertarian side.
I agree that the US had many bad laws and bad cops. But it has good laws and cops that listen to their conscience too.
Also the cop they hired is in the UK, where the RPi foundation is.
Re: Why change the premise? (Score:4, Informative)
I agree that the US had many bad laws and bad cops. But it has good laws and cops that listen to their conscience too.
They are clearly staggeringly outnumbered, or else they would purge the departments of bad cops.
Re: Why change the premise? (Score:2)
That system is created by the politicians you vote in, not by the police they employ.
Partisanship is the problem. Like when the media showed cages for immigrants and blamed it on the Trump administration, but the cages were installed and the pictures taken while Obama was in office.
The Democrats and leftiez didn't ever use that instance as a lesson about their own leaders misuing the power their voters gave them. They didn't demand their own elected Democrats stop that practice.
They never held accountable
Re: Why change the premise? (Score:3)
Re:Why change the premise? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why change the premise? (Score:5, Informative)
If you still think America's drug laws are the reason why there are so many Americans in prison, then
...maybe you should check the data. It is part of the reason, but not the only reason.
Quoting [prisonpolicy.org]: "Drug offenses still account for the incarceration of almost 400,000 people, and drug convictions remain a defining feature of the federal prison system. Police still make over 1 million drug possession arrests each year, many of which lead to prison sentences... and increasing the likelihood of longer sentences for any future offenses. Nevertheless, 4 out of 5 people in prison or jail are locked up for something other than a drug offense..."
maybe you don't understand Americans.
Not sure why you say that. If you think drug laws are the reason that so many Americans are in prison compared to other countries, most likely you are an American, since a good fraction of Americans believe that.
Re:Why change the premise? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Question is ... do drug convictions or other minor convictions, even arrests, result in permanent damage (inability to get student loans, inability to get a job) even if they don't result in actual jail time?
Yes, for felony convictions; mostly not, for misdemeanor convictions.
If there's prison time involved, however, it's a felony.
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Criminal records don't just disappear [Re: Why...] (Score:2)
Generally not, petty crimes disappear from your record within a few months/years.
No they don't.
In some states you can get the record expunged. In most states, though, this is difficult. And your criminal record absolutely won't just "disappear from your record" by itself.
(* except for juvenile offenses. These typically do disappear automatically, if the offender does not re-offend. That's one reason why prosecutors always attempt to try juveniles as adults.).
Re:I think all these people (Score:5, Insightful)
There are legit reasons to hide security cameras, such as securing your own property without people being able to immediately identify the location of all the cameras.
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There are legit reasons to hide security cameras, such as securing your own property without people being able to immediately identify the location of all the cameras.
There's a HUGE difference between "securing your own property" and what this cop was doing, which was spying on other people without their knowledge or consent, including in public places such as legal protest sites.
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I'm not sure why you are saying "spying without consent". Are you suggesting he did something illegal? Or are you suggesting the legal system shouldn't exist and shouldn't give the right to execute warrants?
If I punch you in the face would you defend me when I say I don't give my consent to being arrested?
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There are legit reasons for police to "spy on people without their knowledge or consent", such as if it's a part of an undercover operation investigating narcotics or human trafficking.
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Ah, yet another knee-jerk libtard response.
"Everyone who is against illegal police activities must be a liberal commie who wants zero police."
Funny how the right wing, which is supposed to stand for law and order, stands for nothing any more. If cops don't obey the law (and with cell phones we're seeing more and more of that), they should be punished to the full extent of the law - no "qualified immunity." Apply the law equally to all citizens.
Or do you have a problem with applying the laws equally,
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Cameras do secure anything if people know they are being watched and care enough not to be seen breaking the law or otherwise causing problems on your property.
Hiding the cameras makes it harder to disable them.
Re:I think all these people (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, if the police officer used a warrant from a judge 100% of the time and followed all the laws, rules, and procedures, then why is this bad? The purpose of the warrant is to make sure search is not abused. I think a lot either jumped immediately to the conclusion that it he was spying illicitly, or they just wanted to be on the bandwagon.
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Re:I think all these people (Score:4)
There is a balance here. By your logic, all warrants should be gotten rid of because some were bad. If you're trying to find out if who's bringing in the fentanyl laced heroin into the port, it would seem that a warrant should be a good way to get permission to do some surveillance there. We certainly don't want a police state, but we also don't want to have no law enforcements at all.
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No, the argument was simply that the fact that the warrant was obtained lawfully, doesn't necessarily make it moral or good, because that would be an example of the fallacy called appeal to the law [wikipedia.org].
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There was no evidence that the covert surveillance of legal protest activities was approved by a judge.
And there's no evidence there wasn't. You like everyone else on this topic are talking out of your arse presuming someone is guilty unless proven innocent. You're nothing more than yet another loudmouth in the peanut gallery.
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Maybe in the United States. In Canada, we have some pretty strict privacy laws, and an employer would have to disclose overt video surveillance. And for covert surveillance to be legal, it has to pass a bunch of strong https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/priv... [slashdot.org]">tests.
As for the article... we have to acknowledge that open-source software and hardware can be used for all kinds of purposes and I don't think we should take it out on the Pi foundation if someone uses their products for things we disagree with. F
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an employer would have to disclose overt video surveillance
They would have to reveal they were recording, not where the cameras were.
It wouldn't be for the employees anyway, but for thieves.
For them to hire someone who has been doing something controversial might be a bit tone-deaf, though
Technology should be about technology. People who are too sensitive to understand this can go create their own Raspberry Pi system.
I would say we should maybe respect feelings but since no leeway is ever returned (as we ca
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| an employer would have to disclose overt video surveillance
They would have to reveal they were recording, not where the cameras were.
The rules are here [priv.gc.ca]. There are strict privacy rules in Canada.
Technology should be about technology. People who are too sensitive to understand this can go create their own Raspberry Pi system.
There are plenty of Pi competitors out there. Technology is useless unless it's used by people, so any company that ignores people does so at its peril.
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On the one hand, SOME policing is needed.
On the other hand, most cops in the US are willing participants in an unforgivable system that overly criminalizes victimless actions ... I'm not feeling too sorry for someone who spend over a decade serving such a system.
It's supposed to be a summary (Score:5, Insightful)
Not a damn essay.
But back to the point:
"I am disgusted that [Raspberry Pi's] official post on Toby Roberts' hiring promotes his use of their products to surveil individuals without their consent," Matt Lewis, a Denver-based site reliability engineer, wrote via Twitter DM. "In my eyes, this behavior is completely unethical and the work Toby has done for 15 years is indefensible. I'm also upset that they have chosen to double down on this position against the community outrage."
Yes there exist unethical police officers, and in some cases entire departments have extremely toxic cultures that routinely produce abusive police practices.
But there mere fact that someone is (or was) a cop is not a reason to accuse them of being unethical in the course of their duties! And there's definitely nothing ethically wrong with police carrying out legal covert surveillance!!
Now, I will say that "legal covert surveillance" is a fairly narrow use case for a Raspberry Pi. I think it was ill-advised promoting legal covert surveillance as it will probably inspire various non-police to carry out illegal covert surveillance.
Re:It's supposed to be a summary (Score:5, Insightful)
While that's true at face value, the underlying context is that police are willing participants in a justice system in which district attorneys get rewarded for successful prosecution, not delivery of justice. DAs play to win, not to deliver fair and unbalanced justice. Police officers work very closely with DAs to ensure that people whom the police suspect of being guilty are actually found guilty in a court of law. A police's gut instinct is often the bar that must be passed to determine whether someone attracts the interest and attention of law enforcement. This imbalance, along with the seeming discretion this country gives to police in allowing them to serve as judge, jury, and executioner, are travesties of justice which also disproportionally force further inequity upon already disadvantaged minority groups.
With extraordinary power should come extraordinary responsibility. Very often, police have shown themselves to exercise no more responsibility than the average adult.
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Exactly: American cops are the first line in feeding people into a "justice" system that's fundamentally inhumane (locks more people up per capita than almost any other country on Earth) and unjust (uses incarceration without bail and threats of completely Draconian prison terms to bully people into plea bargains, even if they're factually innocent). Put it this way ... if someone in my family married or became one, they'd not be family, nor would I break bread with one.
So your reaction to systemic problems the US justice system is to discriminate against a large group of individuals?
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Discrimination is immoral when it's against SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE CAN'T CONTROL (say race, ethnicity, gender). When it's against a choice to become part of a system that does violence to the public, we have the right of free association. We don't have to do business or like people who made certain choices.
Discrimination is immoral when it's built on stereotyping a large and diverse group of individuals.
Someone who went into policing because they saw their community torn apart by crime. Would you discriminate against them?
What about someone who became a cop because they want to go around helping and protecting folks. Should they also be expelled from your life?
What about someone who came from five generations of police. Will you discriminate against them for doing the thing their parentage heavily predisposed
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Anyone who voluntarily signed up to ruin people's lives over such chickenfeed was not a good person in my book.
Yeah I'm sure that's why people signed up. "I'm going to be a police officer so I can spend all day arresting drug users and fining people for underage drinking!" - this has never been written on any promotional material.
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Re: It's supposed to be a summary (Score:2)
Re: It's supposed to be a summary (Score:2)
Sniffing packets eh? (Score:2)
Yeah you can use a Raspberry Pi for that, but you can also use an ESP 32 or good old ESP 8266 for that. The ESP 32 is particularly powerful, can run Arduino and you can still use it for WiFi (and bluetooth for the ESP 32) operations transparently, these are cheap mass produced dollar all-in-one convenient small devices.
Sometimes that makes me think they already come with spy software embedded since they're used everywhere (and I do mean everywhere - even Wifi lightbulbs), connecting to home networks - passw
Police officer - probably lawful (Score:5, Insightful)
What the people involved are ignoring is that his actions were probably within the law.
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He was a UK police officer, apparently working organized crime and anti-terrorism.
The incarceration rate in England and Wales is 116th in the world, about 1/5th of that in the US. The rate of police killings is about 0.5/10 million (3 total in 2019), which is a little more than 1/60th that of the US.
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Seems quite a lot to put on this dude's shoulders.
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"a social media firestorm" is this a joke? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm worried about the thing I'm reading here, and not the part about someone using RPi for suspicious activity, or even him being hired.
I'm worried about statement such as "I'm also upset that they have chosen to double down on this position against the community outrage."
Community outrage is everywhere. Every other decision sparks "an outrage" and should be met with a swift response, according to the people behind it. We can't blindly follow all social media outrage with a "ok, let's roll back whatever decision just because a bunch of people dislike it on some random ground."
More to the point, there's a reason that person was hired, maybe it's because he's got experience in the field, or who knows, maybe because he can bring improvement to the platform. But blaming him for using RPI to do his job, and conflating this action as an "endorsement" of sort for these uses? Some people really need to calm down.
Then come the point of targeted harassment and threats. If those are true, then whoever side this is, I would not care for their opinion. We as a society should really stop putting nails on everyone's coffin based on first impression. Let him do something; if the direction Raspberry Pi takes afterward is a bad one, then drop them. If it goes to improve things, then what, suddenly throw flowers at anyone involved? I guess not. People only know how to blame these days.
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This is one of the few actually insightful things posted here. While a lot of other posts are based on pure conjecture (some even suggesting he was acting illegally without proof), or debating the morality of how police act (not part of the subject at hand), or suggesting that someone who did something in one profession shouldn't be a part of another, it's refreshing to see at least one post here that isn't part of the standard internet outrage machine.
Kudos my man.
Morons. (Score:3, Insightful)
People act like we should just not monitor suspected rapists, terrorists, murderers, gang members planning murders, kiddy diddlers, etc... Oh teh noes, let's all fucking pretend that the only people the police are monitoring are Innocent People, the poor Innocent People.
By all means we should have checks and balances, but if you think we don't need the ability to covertly monitor people you are a fucking child and also fuck you.
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The problem with Stingrays and the like is they are indiscriminate, they monitor and log everyone in range which is illegal.
Woke noise (Score:3)
Organized crime/terrorism or spied on ..choose one (Score:2)
Question: How do you armchair detectives expect to stop organized crime and terrorism without surveillance? He wasn't spying on random people, his devices were placed to gather information on organized crime.
I don't like surveillance, but I am also against people being victimized by organized crime. I'm sure if someone YOU cared about was kidnapped and believed held someplace by some group you'd want to surveil the heck out of them. It should be done very carefully and only with court orders and independent
I'm really struggling to care about this (Score:2)
I haven't been able to find a Raspberry Pi 4 for anywhere near retail price for over a year now.
Until they fix their supply shortage, the project is basically dead to me. They could hire Satan as a spokesperson, and it wouldn't matter to me.
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"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." - Yogi Berra
Toby Roberts was not an American cop (Score:2)
He is English. "'I used to be a police officer tackling serious organised crime and terror threats across the east of the UK,' Toby [said]." (quoting from https://www.raspberrypi.com/ne... [raspberrypi.com] .)
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It's funny to see all the Americans demonizing this guy for (they assume) being part of their crappy justice system.
The US is a democracy. If you're an American of voting age then you're way more responsible than this guy is.
People need to stop simping for corporations (Score:3)
The RaPi "foundation", Tesla, Apple, whatever. You look silly glorifying any of them. If they were people, they'd be grade-A psychopaths.
The faux outrage and triggering (Score:2)
Cancel culture writ large (Score:2)
Matt Lewis needs to tone it down. He appears to be living under the false assumption that all police are evil and that he is the good guy. (Hint: there are no good guys) He should be forced to live without their protection. Dox HIS useless ass. He no doubt has a lot of expensive equipment where he lives that he'd prefer to keep. Put it another way, "May he be the butt of every joke. May he be publicly flogged for all of his poor choices and may he have his nose rubbed in all of his mistakes."
General purpose computers (Score:2)
I find it somewhat amusing when the fanbois of some general purpose computing device get all bent out of shape when someone else uses that kind of device for something they don't personally believe in or condone.
I'm sure Tim Cook loses sleep every night knowing that tens of thousands of criminals use iPhones regularly to communicate in various ways that directly aid and abet their criminal activities, including murder, rape, theft, and more.
It's time for some people to grow up.
My guess (Score:2)
....is that most of these activists and posters are ones who left Twitter because "it's so toxic" when in reality what happened is that they simply lost the unofficial patronage and support from the platform/management.
I am ENTIRELY unsurprised the Mastodon crowd is where this is happening.
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They literally can't build them fast enough to keep up with demand.
(And they're readily available; Amazon has dozens of different configurations. They're just twice the price they should be.)
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And they're readily available; Amazon has dozens of different configurations. They're just twice the price they should be.
$200 CAD for a 2GB Pi4 on Amazon.ca. (arrives in time for Christmas though lol). Yeah, not happening.
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It's not Street detectives and forensics guys that have everybody's tits in a tizzy.
Really? Read a few articles about Amazon sharing Ring camera feeds with the local cops. The outrage is there.
It's SWAT and beat cops and the administration that lets them commit wanton acts of violence
To a degree. But usually only after someone has been martyred. People whos' lives have no meaning become famous and they get statues of themselves erected.
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The outrage over ring cameras is because Karen's are calling the cops on random black people wandering through their neighborhoods.
That happens even without Ring cameras. The issue people have with the cameras is that police request recordings from the area around a reported crime. Sometimes the camera owners are unaware of the crime down the street. The cops review the recordings and question whoever they see. And they let the chips fall where they may.