<
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/03/06/predictive-policing-makes-everyone-a-suspect-even-eu-officials/>
"We’ve long known so-called “predictive policing” is garbage. It’s the same old
biased policing, except shinier and more expensive. Every system in place
relies on data generated by policework — data instantly tainted by the things
cops do, like hassling minorities, engaging in very selective enforcement, and
treating people as inherently suspicious just because of where they live. These
acts generate the garbage data that ensures that, when all the digital gears
stop turning, more garbage data will be generated.
To highlight the worthlessness of predictive policing tools, criminal justice
watchdog Fair Trials has mocked up an input tool of its own — one any site
visitor can interact with and experience the faint horror of being prejudged a
criminal by a set of seemingly innocuous questions.
Attend more than one school while growing up? Is your credit rating a bit too
low? Have you ever witnessed a crime? Ever been the recipient of government
benefits? Are you a minority? Ever spoken to the cops for any reason? Answer
enough of these questions with a “yes” and you’ll head right up into “High
Risk” territory — the sort of thing that tends to generate even more
interactions with police officers utilizing predpol data… which then generates
even more data ensuring you’ll remain on the “High Risk” list in perpetuity.
Sure, this is an extremely simplified version of software governments pay
millions to purchase, but the risk factors presented are all used in predictive
policing. And, as Fair Trials points out, these same sorts of systems are used
by judges to determine bail amounts and sentence lengths — things that can be
increased simply because a person has done nothing more than witness a crime or
fallen behind on their bills.
Since it’s incredibly easy to rack up risk factors just by living your life,
it’s no surprise even people with presumably the cleanest backgrounds can still
find themselves listed among the troublesome by predictive policing algorithms.
As Thomas Macaulay reports for
The Next Web, Fair Trials’ predpol quiz has
snagged a number of EU officials."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
