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‘Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over’: Records police interaction, sends location

167 points| miles | 5 years ago |fox29.com

101 comments

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[+] gkoberger|5 years ago|reply
This title makes it feel like it's an Apple feature, but really it's just a Shortcut someone put together.

It basically just turns down the volume, texts your location to an emergency contact, and opens your camera. It doesn't upload the footage in realtime to a central server as other apps do.

[+] michaelbuckbee|5 years ago|reply
It does push it to iCloud or Dropbox though.
[+] dluan|5 years ago|reply
Dropbox immediately uploading photos/videos is the only reason I have it on my phone, more or less for this reason.
[+] ninkendo|5 years ago|reply
There’s probably an opportunity here: If there was an app that did streaming video to a server already, the developers could easily add a shortcut to it which started a stream to a server, and you could hook it up to Siri via the Shortcuts app.
[+] bb123|5 years ago|reply
This is cool - I think smartphones are are best defence against violent police oversteps. Now everyone has a camera with them and we are seeing the results. Democratisation of surveillance.
[+] rvz|5 years ago|reply
> This is cool

Indeed it is. Why install CCTV cameras when everyone is their own camera-person. Solves the low quality camera problem and multi-angle footage. However...

> Democratisation of surveillance.

Mixed with social media, it's now more like self-surveillance. This is just the start and Nextdoor neighbourhoods take this to dystopian levels. But one clever man once compared this to 'Stalin's Dream'. If that's his dream, then it will soon be everyone's nightmare.

[+] doublerabbit|5 years ago|reply
It's a neat idea until a law is passed forcing you to hand over a "IoT device" to the sheriff in charge.
[+] aaronbrethorst|5 years ago|reply
I think voting for the right people is probably more effective.
[+] bananamerica|5 years ago|reply
I am black. If I was in the United States I’d have a dashcam and would wear a bodycam if possible.
[+] LeifCarrotson|5 years ago|reply
It records it if you have the Siri Shortcuts app installed and download that user script.

The article points out the Siri command is only for iPhones, but it could also be a Google Routine or an Alexa skill, or there are standalone apps for all three platforms that do the same thing.

[+] Gaelan|5 years ago|reply
@mods can we get this headline changed? as other comments have pointed out, it's pretty misleading.
[+] livecodestream|5 years ago|reply
It is a very strange world where we need technology to protect us from those who protect us.
[+] fsniper|5 years ago|reply

[deleted]

[+] dang|5 years ago|reply
Please don't post empty flamebait and denunciatory rhetoric to Hacker News. Not what this site is for.

Nationalistic flamewar is one of several forms of flamewar tied for the #1 spot of what we don't need here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[+] vikramkr|5 years ago|reply
Dead is a defeatist attitude. If a countryfolk thinks their country is dead because there are unsolved problems, then the country is dead for real. Defeatists didn't end slavery, end jim crow, win the right to vote. We've been far worse, and we'll get a lot better because there are countryfolk like the ones creating this tooling to fight police brutality.
[+] pengaru|5 years ago|reply
Show me a position of authority/power that doesn't attract the least desirable kind of people you want in that position; those seeking to abuse it.

At least in the USA we have the right to document these interactions with video footage.

[+] quickthrower2|5 years ago|reply
Yes this seems super sad as someone from outside the USA. I admit I know little, but I get the impression the police are more self-governing in the US, where as in the UK/Australia there are independent bodies with teeth that can deal with complaints, and even do major investigations across the entire force, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission_into_the_New_...

Would a federal level watchdog help? Would it even be possible?

Downvote reasons? Happy to edit the question if it's offensive, dumb, or whatever.

[+] kevin_thibedeau|5 years ago|reply
The murder of Philando Castile 4 years ago should have made that obvious.
[+] kkotak|5 years ago|reply
Many of the evils in the US are rooted in the 2nd amendment and the NRA.
[+] lazyjones|5 years ago|reply
> This is a declaration of how un-civilized and rotten USA is.

Or it shows how hysterical people are in a country with the most advanced democracy, civil rights and justice system in the world.

[+] curiousgeorgio|5 years ago|reply
As un-civilized and rotten as the news portrays things to be, for 99% of the rest of us Americans, this isn't really a common problem. That's not to say it isn't a problem for the few that do experience it (and that problem absolutely needs to be fixed), but just want to point out that what you see publicized is not representative of the country as a whole.
[+] downerending|5 years ago|reply
I think this is an outstanding idea. But if it's to be credible, the recordings need to be unmodifiable/undeleteable by the user, and immediately available to law enforcement.

Heads I win, tails you lose is not credible. It's just riot bait.

[+] thekevan|5 years ago|reply
>the recordings need to be unmodifiable/undeleteable by the user and immediately available to law enforcement.

That would be a 5th Amendment violation, and possibly a privacy matter.

[+] sjogress|5 years ago|reply
I thought the police were largely required to wear body cams plus have dash cams in the US. If that is true then there is no need to share the footage, since law enforcement should already be in possession of recordings of an incident.