Slashdot Mirror


IBM Used NYPD Surveillance Footage To Develop Technology That Lets Police Search by Skin Color (theintercept.com)

Three months after the American Civil Liberties Union revealed that Amazon provided facial recognition technology to local law enforcement, a new report by The Intercept says that IBM collaborated with the New York City Police Department to develop a system that allowed officials to search for people by skin color, hair color, gender, age, and various facial features. VentureBeat: The Intercept and the National Institute's nonprofit Investigative Fund, citing "confidential corporate documents" and interviews with engineers involved with the project, write that IBM began developing the analytics platform roughly 10 years ago in partnership with New York's Lower Manhattan Security Initiative counterterrorist center, after an earlier experiment with the city of Chicago. Using "thousands" of photographs from roughly 50 cameras provided by the NYPD, its computer vision system learned from 16,000 points to identify clothing color and other bodily characteristics, in addition to potential threats like unattended packages, people entering off-limits areas, and cars speeding up against the flow of traffic.

241 comments

  1. Wow by Alypius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Searching camera feeds based on physical human traits. Quelle horror.

    1. Re:Wow by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      Searching camera feeds based on physical human traits. Quelle horror.

      Yeah... at first glance at the headline the initial reaction is... "uh-oh" that doesn't sound good- then reading the blurb you realize that, it's just doing a useful feature. If you're looking for a specific suspect it would be great if the software could narrow it down to people of a similar demographic.

      Certainly there is room for abuse here, but there's also room for a very valid and useful police tool. It all comes down to who is using the tool. A "good cop" could have a very powerful tool here... any cop looking to deliberately do something racist doesn't really need software to help them with that.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't restrict a search using physical parameters. You need to use DNA.

    3. Re:Wow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.

      These things are always abused. Always.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Wow by torkus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously.

      Reading the title, it implies NYPD is searching for minorities to ... well to do something bad.

      In reality it's search technology for not only skin color but other traits - none of which is inherently racist at all. If someone reports a crime by a 'white male, approx 50 years of age, 6'2 and about 250 pounds with blonde, shoulder length hair' then searching for that is the same as cops walking the beat looking for the same. It's also NOT RACIST if someone reports a crime by the same person but with darker skin and they search for it.

      I'm all for limiting abuses by cops and can certainly agree this COULD be used in bad ways but the article is troll bait, click bait, fake news, and every other horrible thing that's driving our country down the tubes.

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    5. Re:Wow by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Cars are abused by bank robbers to get away with the money.

      Guns are abused by criminals to kill people.

      Is this a reason not to have cars and guns?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    6. Re:Wow by bsDaemon · · Score: 1

      I have no data, but suspect that there is a large overlap in people who support:
      a) gun control
      b) self-driving cars

    7. Re:Wow by Alypius · · Score: 1

      We punish those who commit abuses. We tend to not ban things that can be abused.

    8. Re:Wow by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      This. The debate about proper use of human-recognition software is a valid and important one. But if such software can't identify basic descriptive characteristics (such as, oh say, skin color) then it isn't worth a damn.

      Alas, we live in a world where people of many descriptions commit illegal acts. And we try to identify suspects based on evidence, including what eyewitnesses or video surveillance indicates they look like. Recognition software is one of many tools used for such purposes. But if it is used as a blanket detector for entire classes of people we have no reason to suspect are criminals, then it is most certainly being misused.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    9. Re:Wow by goose-incarnated · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.

      These things are always abused. Always.

      Weren't you the one always in favour of giving the state more power? More power to discriminate on basis of both skin colour and gender?

      You're right (now) that these things will always be abused, but you know what - we told you so. Honestly, you're in agreement only if the right sort of discrimination occurs, so this problem is because of people like you. Had you been egalitarian from the get go the state would have less power to enforce discrimination.

      Well Done!

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    10. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whites are reported 2x less than non whites (and somehow jews). This is how it's somehow racist to the morons in our country.

    11. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The last sentence of the article sums up its purpose:

      The revelations come as a city council bill that would require NYPD transparency about surveillance acquisitions continues to languish, due, in part, to outspoken opposition from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYPD.

      The authors clearly want the city council bill to pass and will drum up headlines to give a negative perception on NYPD as a whole.

    12. Re:Wow by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      You can't restrict a search using physical parameters. You need to use DNA.

      Nobody is saying image recognition is the only tool on the workbench. It's a useful way to narrow down suspects and concentrate resources for further investigation.

      And DNA evidence, while compelling, is not a requirement to obtain a conviction or an acquittal.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    13. Re:Wow by kenai_alpenglow · · Score: 0

      Putting on my SJW hat (ugh, what do these people put in their hair?!), That post is racist (white male), agist (50), heightist (6'2) and weightist (250lbs). Oh an hairist (blonde AND length). OK, need to take that hat off now--I think I have lice now. It must be a miserable life being a SJW and never being able to have a good time.

    14. Re:Wow by Diakoneo · · Score: 1

      I just want to go on record that I am ABSOLUTELY AGAINST guns controlling self driving cars. That way madness lies.

      --
      "Just as there is nothing so unreal as reality TV, there is nothing as unsocial as social media." - Alistair Dabbs
    15. Re:Wow by dcw3 · · Score: 2

      I'm totally in favor of self driving cars for anyone who thinks they should be behind the wheel while operating their cell phone, putting on make-up, reading the paper, etc. For the rest of us, I don't ever want one...never, ever.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    16. Re:Wow by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      We punish those who commit abuses. We tend to not ban things that can be abused.

      Um, sort of. We make rules based upon those abuses, and those rules frequently inhibit the rights of the non-abusers. Think TSA, gun control, speed limits, HOAs, etc.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    17. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wish I had mod points for you.

    18. Re:Wow by lgw · · Score: 1

      The 4th Amendment was, when written, primarily about "no general warrants" , because that was a very real problem the Founding Fathers personally faced. It has always been meant to forbid the practice of "a liquor store was just robbed, arrest the nearest black man, I'm sure he's guilty of something".

      I long for a SCOTUS that actually cares about the Constitution above their personal political preferences. If only ...

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    19. Re:Wow by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 1

      They emphasized "skin color" in the headline because that's how you get eyeballs in 2018.

      The irony is just a couple articles below is something about not merely trying to capture attention but providing quality instead.

    20. Re:Wow by lgw · · Score: 1

      I just want to go on record that I am ABSOLUTELY AGAINST guns controlling self driving cars. That way madness lies.

      I'm OK with that, just don't give the self-driving cars guns! I saw that movie, and I don't want to have to think about all those time travel paradoxes.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    21. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Close, but after you finished bemoaning all the "ists", you forgot to complain about them not being intersectional enough.

      I mean, you can't judge people on any feature, but you have to make sure that everything is diverse enough, even though there's no differences between groups of people.

    22. Re:Wow by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      I'm OK with that, just don't give the self-driving cars guns!

      Too late! The Russians are already working on it:

      The Kalashnikov Arms Factory Turns Out An Electric Car They Say Will "Rival" Tesla https://www.forbes.com/sites/g...

      Will a Tesla armed with a Musk Flamethrower be a match for it . . . ?

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    23. Re:Wow by rahvin112 · · Score: 1

      then searching for that is the same as cops walking the beat looking for the same

      It's not the same, the technology greatly changes this and it's ripe for potential abuse, and not just the kind you are choosing to talk about with regard to race. This is the prefect tool to "create" evidence where none exists. And by create I don't mean locate evidence, I mean create.

      Technological tools like this are incredibly scary.

    24. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have no data, but suspect that there is a large overlap in people who support:
      a) gun control
      b) self-driving cars

      I have no data, but suspect these additions are correct:
      c) redefining words for political gain
      d) women having the right to forego parental responsibility, but not men.
      e) 35 genders
      f) extra rights for people that aren't male or female
      g) banning free speech
      h) compelling speech under law
      i) calls to violence against anyone that does not support everything above.
      j) open, unprotected borders
      k) celebrating sharia law as a triumph of multiculturalism
      l) global thermonuclear war over $100,000 spent on campaign ads

    25. Re:Wow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      No, you have me confused with someone else. The state should never have this kind of invasive power.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    26. Re:Wow by shaitand · · Score: 1

      DNA is also wrongly seen as more compelling than it is. There are lot of flaws with DNA evidence in the methodology, the flawed manner in which it is analyzed, the bogus statistics of certainly, and the manner in which indirect transmission as a common daily occurrence for any individual is ignored. Unfortunately, the courts have slammed down pretty hard on challenging DNA as evidence and the public has been taught it is a silver bullet for doubt.

    27. Re:Wow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Some things are too dangerous so get banned. WMD, for example. And in most places guns too.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    28. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, troll mod points. The far right always claim that their opponents want to give the state more power, without actually bothering to look at what their opponents actually support, because if they actually bothered they'd realize that they're the people who want governments in people's lives. They want America to be a Christian Saudi Arabia, Ami et al do not.

    29. Re:Wow by Scroatzilla · · Score: 1

      Without having read the parent, this comment seemed brilliant until the "egalitarian" part. There *is* such thing as *good discrimination*. Egalitarian thought would mean that you can't make subjective judgments of "better" or "worse." Absent these notions, you would need to substitute some other unnatural means of judgment that would have little to do with what the outcome of such judgment would be. Therefore, in the context of what you are supposed to be judging, the unpredictable range of outcomes would be somewhere between 1) really awesome, or 2) completely destructive.

      In this case, skin color is an important distinguishing characteristic of a perpetrator of a crime. So, helping law enforcement officials *discriminate* from among possible suspects is *good*. I don't think it's a good idea to sacrifice law and order for political correctness.

    30. Re:Wow by fafalone · · Score: 1

      You don't understand the insanity of SJWs... Apparently, including race in the description of a suspect is racist these days. So news outlets just report age, clothes, and height. They got offended by so many "police are looking for a black man....." stories, part of the continuing mission to bury the fact that with the violent crimes police typically ask for help in locating suspects, blacks commit a disproportionately high percentage, and to smear anyone who brings it up as racist. Nevermind the damage caused by pretending the gap doesn't exist or other ridiculous deflections (e.g. the gap is just caused by police looking at black people more, like theres legions of white violent crime victims where police cover it up so they don't have to arrest the white offender). The underlying causes should be identified and corrected, ignoring it is harmful.

    31. Re: Wow by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      If you live in a nation where the state regularly creates evidence then this tool changes nothing, and you're just whining about something new and unfamiliar.

      If you do not live in such a state then it also changes nothing, and you're still whining about something new and unfiliar.

    32. Re:Wow by HornWumpus · · Score: 0

      Done by noplace.

      In some places they ban citizens from owning guns and bombs. But not sane places. The most dangerous people to allow to have guns are governments.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    33. Re: Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blacks cause far more crime, including violent crime per capita and it is not explained away by poverty. If you are politically correct and follow a SJW lifestyle you are only allowed to blame whites or existing power structures. The MSM does not control the news anymore and the censored narratives known by society are changing.

    34. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BS, Bucky. There is the Left's biggest strawman argument, and it's total idiocy. Are you really dumb enough to believe that conservatives are all raving fundie Christians who want to impose their beliefs on everyone in the country, by force no less? Jeez, you guys are looking in the wrong direction if you are worried about a 'Handmaiden's Tale' scenario.

    35. Re:Wow by strikethree · · Score: 1

      No, you have me confused with someone else. The state should never have this kind of invasive power.

      Nope. He has the right guy. You have been arguing to give the government more power to ensure that females have at least equality, if not supremacy, with males. You are just blind to how your desire to empower females has overstepped the bounds from equality to supremacy. In other words, you argue for equal outcomes, not equal opportunities. Meh.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    36. Re:Wow by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Give me a specific example and I'll explain why you are wrong.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:Classic IBM. by gnick · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's immoral about this? I understand the objections to mass surveillance, but what's wrong from analyzing the footage to find what you're looking for?

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  3. Can be used evil. by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While this could be open for abuse, I don't think IBM was trying to be racist in this case, it is just a visual factor to help narrow down a search. Just like how law enforcement will also identify people by the tattoos or scars they may have.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Can be used evil. by ibpooks · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're soft pedaling it. Of course IBM is not being racist, nor are their developers, nor their customers in NYPD. The very implication of it in the title and summary of the OP is a perfect example of the race-baiting, click-baiting business model adopted by the news-entertainment industry which has ruined their credibility.

      It is obvious to anyone that basic physical traits like color and size are essential to locating a person in a crowd, yet they've chosen to make a big deal out of it specifically for the purpose of churning their audience to anger.

    2. Re:Can be used evil. by bogaboga · · Score: 1

      I don't think IBM was trying to be racist in this case

      How could IBM be racist anyway? 100% of the target have some form of skin color, right?

    3. Re:Can be used evil. by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      I don't think IBM was trying to be racist in this case

      How could IBM be racist anyway? 100% of the target have some form of skin color, right?

      Only the ones with skin... ... only the ones with skin. ...ONLY the ones with skin...

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    4. Re:Can be used evil. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Bingo. At $0.0017 per page view everything is about race. The more angry the more clicks.

    5. Re:Can be used evil. by slack_justyb · · Score: 1

      click-baiting business model adopted by the news-entertainment industry which has ruined their credibility

      This might be me splitting hairs here, but I believe the word is integrity not credibility. Credibility typically is an adherence to fact, IBM is working on a system of facial recognition and the ACLU sees that as highly problematic. Integrity is typically an adherence to morals or standards. This media is attempting to sensationalize a thing that is mired in fear, of which newspapers should join in the fray per journalistic standards.

      That's all I had to say, I know, just me getting wrapped up in minutia. Nothing wrong with your comment, just wanted to point out the difference between the two words, at least as I understand them. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    6. Re:Can be used evil. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think IBM was trying to be racist in this case

      I disagree.

      I think IBM mgmt went into a conference room, looked at each other and asked, "OK, what racist software can we create today?"

      It just makes sense.

    7. Re:Can be used evil. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM supplied Mr Hitler with tech and the victims had their database number tattooed on them. Now the same IBM is preparing the next level tech for the next oppressive regime... (hears front door being banged on) First they came for the blacks, the gays, and *carrier lost*

    8. Re:Can be used evil. by ibpooks · · Score: 1

      No worries, I agree with your use of "integrity" there as well. My view of "credibility" in this case is that they are portraying (perhaps just emphasizing) an outrage which does not actually exist, or is fringe where it does. Therefore they are giving a false report of the totality of the situation despite the select information presented being factually true.

    9. Re:Can be used evil. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I worked for IBM for several years and I witnessed a lot of racism by the white employees against a hispanic coworker who finally quit.
      They pronounced his name mary-o and made beaner jokes and low-rider jokes and pretty much everything you can imagine.
      I am white but have a surname that is common among black people and my first day, 3 new coworkers exclaimed to me "Thank God! We thought you were black from your last name!"
      I was shocked but didn't say anything.

      Never saw any black employees on campus.

      I know, I know.
      My anecdotes don't prove anything more than that I was unlucky enough to work with a few bad apples.

      But then you study history and you see IBM making money tracking the Jews to the death camps and so you wonder...

  4. Re:Classic IBM. by ArchieBunker · · Score: 0, Troll

    You have to use newspeak terms now. When you hear about blacks committing crimes they are referred to as "youths" by the media.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  5. Yes IBM helped the Nazis deal with the jews! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yes IBM helped the Nazis deal with the jews!

    IBM profit at any cost take your pick H1B, anti jew, anti black, etc.

    They may even help north Korea as well.

    1. Re:Yes IBM helped the Nazis deal with the jews! by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Wasn't that typical of American companies? At least until Germany declared war on the States.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  6. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "what's wrong from"? I'm not sure what was going through my head right there. *what's wrong with*

  7. Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by sinij · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh no, someone mentioned skin color. Racist! Racist! Racist.

    Burn the Witch!

    1. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Oh no, someone mentioned skin color. Racist! Racist! Racist.

      Wait, I thought these days you are racist if you DON'T mention skin color? People keep saying that "not seeing skin color" is racist, so...

    2. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by torkus · · Score: 4

      Can't win, don't try.

      SJWs will find fault with whatever you say or do. If somehow they can't, they'll go after whatever they think your intent was. Failing that, well you were probably thinking something inappropriate and hateful. As a last resort, they'll claim that THEY felt attacked, marginalized, or otherwise harmed - and you obviously can't attack someone who is a victim. You victim-blamer you! See? Evil to the end.

      Personally i'm offended by any searches of physical attributes that include hair, being bald myself. This surveillance product should be banned!

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    3. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by fibonacci8 · · Score: 1
      From TFA:

      ... In 2017, IBM released Intelligent Video Analytics 2.0, a product with a body camera surveillance capability that allows users to detect people captured on camera by “ethnicity” tags, such as “Asian,” “Black,” and “White.”

      Kjeldsen, the former IBM researcher who helped develop the company’s skin tone analytics with NYPD camera access, said the department’s claim that the NYPD simply tested and rejected the bodily search features was misleading. “We would have not explored it had the NYPD told us, ‘We don’t want to do that,’” he said. “No company is going to spend money where there’s not customer interest.”

      So yeah, it's literally about the NYPD requesting a feature to have the software sort people in the videos by personally identifying features... prior to a warrant for each person. If you're unfamiliar with the fourth and fourteenth amendments to the constitution, or the concept of due process, the best time to read them would have been before this system existed, the second best time is now.

      The racism part is a red herring, but at least it got people to pay attention. The problem prior to that, is that it's an enormous number of unreasonable searches. That it's also a massive civil rights violation is icing on the cake for any lawyer who decides to act on it.

      --
      Inheritance is the sincerest form of nepotism.
    4. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, I thought these days you are racist if you DON'T mention skin color? People keep saying that "not seeing skin color" is racist, so...

      To be fair, any individuals given preferential treatment based on race who are otherwise suffiiciently lacking in strength of character may have a deep aversion to the tenet of being "judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

    5. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by PrimaryConsult · · Score: 2

      A fun way to shut down an annoying SJW is to assert the thing they're claiming you're doing, even if untrue. They don't know how to deal with it. They already know that calling someone a racist, sexist, bigot, etc doesn't have any effect if the person they're trying to insult with it takes pride in being those things. An SJW is a bully wrapped in a thin veil of morality, trying to hurl insults similar to calling a straight person gay on the schoolyard, just to incite a reaction that will stroke their ego/superiority complex.

    6. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by bugs2squash · · Score: 0

      The real best way to annoy SJW is to simply not be racist or sexist. I urge you to treat your fellow man with respect and consideration as a way to drive SJWs wild (if that;s your thing)

      --
      Nullius in verba
    7. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by PrimaryConsult · · Score: 2

      SJWs don't actually care and will constantly challenge until they find something about you in violation of their moral code. They will call holding a door open for any woman sexist, and not holding the door for a black person racist. Thus creating a checkmate situation when a black woman is following you through a door.

      There is no winning, so may as well have fun triggering them repeatedly.

    8. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This only works on rational individuals. SJW are far from rational. In fact the use of "fellow man" is a sexist trigger. Doom will befell anyone who does not conform to SFW no matter how respectful and considered one is in the ever shifting minefield of triggers.

    9. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by sinij · · Score: 2

      The real best way to annoy SJW is to simply not be racist or sexist.

      Sadly, this is not true. Evergreen College clearly demonstrated that "not racist" has no meaningful scope, SJWs there took it all the way to blatant anti-white racism and objecting to that was still called racist.

      It is identity politics all the way down.

    10. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by lgw · · Score: 1

      Searching live camera footage is not really different from searching a crowd, except for the cost. Storing camera footage for later searching is a concern not well addressed in the Constitution. Personally I think we need a new amendment to specifically limit the ability of the government to store data (or search data stored by others) about mostly-innocent people.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    11. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

      ...may have a deep aversion to the tenet of being "judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

      Yeah, I just find it funny when well intentioned folk say things like: "I don't see color" or "I am blind to skin color" - meaning that they will treat you like an individual instead of like a racial stereotype - and then they get remorselessly attacked for "erasing identity".

      These days it's wrong *NOT* to treat someone like a stereotype; you MUST treat people differently based on their racial identity if you DON'T want to be a racist.

    12. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hahaha it's like how, when I was growing up, people would say "I don't see color" as a way of saying "I see everyone the same, I'm not judging you on your outward appearance" which has now been, unsurprisingly, weaponized... you'll hear people respond

      "wow you don't see color? So what, you're blind to my plight?! You just ignore my race?!?"

      You seriously cannot win with those folks.

    13. Re: Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just made all that up lol.

    14. Re: Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is this entire thread people making fun of âoeSJWsâ with none in sight?

    15. Re: Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly, so to REALLY piss off SJWs, never open doors ever. Youâ(TM)ll have to make some lifestyle adjustments, but theyâ(TM)ll be absolutely fuming mad, try it.

    16. Re:Oh no! Low flying panic attack. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is identity politics all the way down.

      That's cultural appropriation. As a turtle-american I am offended.

  8. So, police searching by characteristics that a suspect, you know, has, is bad? Why?

    I've long joked that our national obsession with race would lead to people being unwilling to simply describe people ("well officer, he was ... er ... tall?") but I guess reality has outrun my sense of humor at this point.

    1. Re:uh by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I cannot believe how insensitive and discriminatory you are! Your example says "he", but is that really how zhey identified on that day? Your belief in what zhey really are is forcing your constrained, bigoted views on them. And tall? Are you a heightist or something? Everyone is as tall as they want to be, or need to be, calling attention to zheir own preferences is simply intolerant. Can't we just call people "zheyselves", because on any given day they may not identify even as a human but a blue liger? Seriously, you people with your prejudices and hate-filled hearts...

      /sarc (do I really need this? Sadly, yes...)

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    2. Re:uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Snort

      Oh the sorry state of race relations we have today after Obama and his electorate seeing so many things with minority tinted glasses that the inevitable pushback is that many disadvantaged whites openly succumbed to their populist dark side and elected the anti-Obama.

    3. Re:uh by Calydor · · Score: 1

      Why are you singling out blue ligers? Do you have a PROBLEM with blue ligers?!

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    4. Re:uh by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Please, addressing me as "zhey" is really offensive. Please use the proper term "your majesty". Thanks.

    5. Re:uh by torkus · · Score: 1

      You have to love the people complaining about pronouns that then go on to assign arbitrary pronouns to everyone else "IN CASE THEY MIGHT BE OFFENDED BY AN ASSIGNED PRONOUN"

      Can't win, don't try.

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    6. Re:uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't people just use the pronoun “one”? It's singular, gender neutral, and not wildly offensive like “it”.

      Is having a different word for subject and object important enough to use one of the at least 12 new pronouns in the last 45 years that all failed to catch on?

      They, them, their, theirs, themselves; one, one, one’s, one’s, oneself.

      If people can redefine “literally” to mean “not literally”, then surely they can use a common word to mean the same thing it's meant for centuries.

  9. What's the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BM Used NYPD Surveillance Footage To Develop Technology That Lets Police Search by Skin Color

    They are quite capable of doing that themselves

  10. Re:Classic IBM. by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hang on buddy.
    5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... Here come the racists, with the usual cesspit of comments.
    They'll explain to you why they are
    a: Not racist
    b: "Facts" that "support" justified racial biases

    I was here in '97 at the beginning of this site. It's pretty sad.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  11. Queue the Haters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pretty sure white is a skin color too.

    Next, posting pictures of a suspect will be deemed racist because of x skin color (except white, because you can never be racist against whites right)

  12. So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If a white person commits a crime, we also should be searching for blacks?

    OH NOES!!!

  13. This is the opposite of racist by alternative_right · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Instead of looking for people by race in this country, we tend to identify them by skin color.

    Race is not skin color; race is a collection of traits which make people from different groups appear, act, and be constructed slightly differently from those of other groups.

    Since we cannot talk about race ("African-American") we identify suspects by description in the news, including skin color. Here's the relevant quotation:

    Using "thousands" of photographs from roughly 50 cameras provided by the NYPD, its computer vision system learned from 16,000 points to identify clothing color and other bodily characteristics, in addition to potential threats like unattended packages, people entering off-limits areas, and cars speeding up against the flow of traffic.

    We are looking at one of the 16,000 point here.

  14. Garbage Title by Digital+Mage · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The title should say:

    "IBM Used NYPD Surveillance Footage To Develop Technology That Lets Police Search by Physical Features"

    ...but I guess that is far less fear mongering than cherry picking out "skin color".

    1. Re:Garbage Title by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      Got you to click on the link(s) though...

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  15. About time... by The+Original+CDR · · Score: 3, Funny

    The NYPD can now go after the purple people eater.

    1. Re:About time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get my family freindly Goat C shirt! ~ CaptainCork

    2. Re: About time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You fat fucking retard. Stfu.

    3. Re:About time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The NYPD can now go after the purple people eater.

      According to what I heard he changed his MO, switching from people to cars and bars for a while, then moved on to exclusively guitars.

    4. Re:About time... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get my family freindly [sic] Goat C [obnoxious link removed] shirt! ~ CaptainCork

      ./ should run an automatic script which replaces those links with links to a Rick Astley video. The feature should be customizable via a user preference setting. Add radio buttons to user account settings with options for either "Goatse" or "Rickroll."

  16. Nevermind by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    Governmemts can ease off antitrust investigations in exchange for helping spy on people (we will ignore for now wiggling fingers behind the back for "donations", the source and driver of much corruption in the world).

    Nah, this never happens. Nevermind.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  17. Also clothing color by Khopesh · · Score: 1

    I do not think it is acceptable to use this type of tool for anything resembling data science or statistics, and access to it needs to be very tightly controlled with transparent policies and a justifiable purpose.

    I saw a documentary on the NYC surveillance capabilities a few years ago, back when they could search only by clothing color and a few other visual cues easier than race/ethnicity. This is a system for responding to descriptions of suspected terrorists (or criminals?), allowing easy filtering of a massive collection of CCTV cameras (the documentary demonstrated a real-time filtering of CCTV feeds, seeking somebody wearing red. It was eerie). I'd be okay with this if it had a strict access control policy requiring highly detailed audit logs and ideally something resembling a warrant procedure, especially if it were limited to terrorism investigations.

    --
    Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
    1. Re:Also clothing color by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do not think it is acceptable to use this type of tool for anything resembling data science or statistics, and access to it needs to be very tightly controlled with transparent policies and a justifiable purpose.

      Translation: Objective evidence that blacks and hispanics commit crime at far higher rates than do asians and whites must be suppressed.

  18. okay, and? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why is this news?

    1. Re:okay, and? by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2

      The editors are trying to make this story sound scary like IBM is targeting brown people. There was a lull in news stories about Trump so they had to come up with something.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    2. Re:okay, and? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Headline: :Police are targeting minorities!"
      Article: "...that commit crimes. And anyone else that commits crimes, too. Made you look."

    3. Re:okay, and? by kNIGits · · Score: 1

      Trump, you say? I'm pretty sure that IBM's new system enables the police to search for orange-skinned criminals, too.

  19. Re:Classic IBM. by sycodon · · Score: 0

    The Left would require all criminal suspects be simply identified as, "Youths".

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  20. Okay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Search for: Orange skin, fake blonde hair covering a bald head, wanted for treason, collusion, tax fraud, wire fraud and stupidity.

    found in under microsecond.
    Nice!

    1. Re:Okay by laie_techie · · Score: 1

      Search for: Orange skin, fake blonde hair covering a bald head, wanted for treason, collusion, tax fraud, wire fraud and stupidity.

      found in under microsecond. Nice!

      Only Mr. Trump is not currently under arrest for any crime. Many of his detractors accuse him of treason, collusion, tax fraud, and wire fraud, but look at the facts. For better worse stupidity is not against the law.

    2. Re:Okay by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "Only Mr. Trump is not currently under arrest for any crime."

      People under arrest are usually not subject of a search. Everybody knows where they are.
      Coincidentally this is also the case here, so also no searching necessary.

  21. fun ... by fish_in_the_c · · Score: 1

    until of coarse Pakistan or China steel the technology.
    Where are all those , if we don't build it , someone else will, folks who frequent here , who always think developing every piece of technology is good.

    --
    âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
  22. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You do realize that we live in a society where news organizations are criticized for including race in descriptions of police suspects?

  23. Not needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    " develop a system that allowed officials to search for people by skin color,..."

    They had an analog one already for decades.
    It's called 'RacistCop 1.0'

  24. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fact you think anyone who believes searching by physical traits (say via a police report) is racist, and anyone who disagrees with you is racist, casts you in a far worse light.

  25. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As an old criminal, I'm totally in favor of this.

  26. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You just implied that the media uses the term "youth" for only black people and that black people of all ages are called "youths". Both of those things are stupid.

  27. I can see it now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can you identify your attacker?

    Yes. Between 5 and 6 feet tall. White male. Wearing a black jacket.

    Thanks. We'll ignore all that and talk to everybody in the city. "not profiling" is more important to us than finding the dirtbag who attacked you.

    1. Re: I can see it now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's round up the majority of white people and throw them in the ghetto to live and survive and see what happens.

      This isn't a black white problem. It's a poor rich problem. Problem is, the rich convinced you it's you vs race. And not poor vs rich.

    2. Re: I can see it now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's round up the majority of white people and throw them in the ghetto to live and survive and see what happens.

      We already tried that with the Jews and they became the dominant scientists, philosophers, doctors, economists, bankers, lawyers and industry leaders. Same thing should work for white gentiles. What was your point?

  28. Re:Classic IBM. by Calydor · · Score: 0

    But are they false?

    --
    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  29. Re:Classic IBM. by houghi · · Score: 1

    This is NYPD, so: *Youse. (Like in "Youse all")

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  30. Re:Classic IBM. by sycodon · · Score: 1

    What is sad is you apparently feel comfortable calling anyone who has a different opinion than yourself, a racist.

    Go ahead and explain to everyone why, when searching for someone based on a description, the person's skin color, or anything else, should be omitted.

    Do you think the police should just be looking for, "some guy"?

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  31. Re:Classic IBM. by sycodon · · Score: 1

    I thought it was Yutes

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  32. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Imagine some lady rob a convenience staff then describe the appearance to the police.

    Staff: The robber is a lady....
    Police: woah.... that's sexist I can't write that in my report!
    Staff: ummmm.... ok.... she is white
    Police: woah.... sorry now you are trying to be racist .... you must have offended somebody with your behaviour for them to target you
    Staff: what the fuck! I'm the victim here
    Police: You are under arrest for intimidating a Police officer!

  33. Reality is not politically correct by quietwalker · · Score: 2

    Discrimination in a legal aspect is far different than discrimination - or should I say, categorization - by physical attribute. The latter should be allowed in the same way that the former should be defended against. That this article even exists is proof that some loud folks believe both types of discrimination listed above are the same. Otherwise, how could you consider that police using skin color in any aspect would be anything but normal, unless you somehow consider that to be wrong on some moral, ethical, or legal level? That's a problem, because at that point, it's just an attempt to whitewash reality with what today is considered politically correct. In fact, it sounds like .

    Searching for suspects or describing victims based on known attributes is just a rational, good practice. Imagine if police were not allowed to consider gender, skin color, age, hair color, eye color, height, or weight in their official records. Imagine if it were hospitals that were not allowed to use those traits when treating patients.

    Sounds absurd to you, like this is one of those 'taken to a logical extreme' examples that no one would ever consider?

    Well, I've got news for you. It's already creeping in. Apparently the practice of using someone's apparent or legal gender and legal name for police reports is deeply upsetting to folks. The TG community calls it 'deadnaming,' and considers the use of the original or legal name to be violence, done both to the victim and to the TG community.

    They're actually upset that the legal name and gender are being used by police in any capacity.

    There's a good point in there, where their preferred name might be known and can be used while interviewing folks. The thing is, they say it like it's new, like there's not a 'known aliases' field somewhere. Or perhaps 'important notes: TG male to female, named X'. The folks advocating against deadnaming don't want that though. They don't want notes. They want this to be used for the official, primary fields. They state that even bringing up name in a historical reference about the individual should be disallowed, and go on to include things like parents (who might not approve) and so on.

    Now, this isn't like other minority rights issues. For example, marriage is a legal definition that confers real legal entitlements, and the LGBT* marriage rights is about getting official recognition for any couples regardless of gender (which is what we should be doing, and is so obvious I have a problem even considering alternative viewpoints) . But that's not what this is. This is lying about reality to make someone feel good about themselves, or at least, not make them feel bad, or in the case that they've died, getting others to feel good knowing it won't happen to them.

    Those advocating for absolute validity of personal feelings are going to be constantly confronted with the premise that the physical world doesn't care much about political correctness, and they're not going to just make their peace with it. I actually worry that we're going to have to legally protect concepts like critical thinking and scientific method as they're nickle and dimed away over time. ... well, I went off on a rant there. Anyway, let's not let political correctness become legally enforced stupidity.

  34. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes. They're false. The media calls young people "youths" even if they're not black and does not call elderly black people "youths".

  35. Duh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like the obvious feature to search by - nothing here says anything about discrimination. If you are looking for a white criminal, filtering for fair skin color seems like an obvious choice.

  36. One should use all available information by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One should use all the information one has available. Selectively ignoring relevant information would be self-destructive and self-defeating.

  37. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shouldn't mention height or age for sure. Or definitely any handicaps. Eye colour is still being debated by the SJWs. We'll get back to you.

  38. opt out? by originalGMC · · Score: 0

    Where's the opt out button? Can't find it!

  39. Re:PC BS by vux984 · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure i follow your argument, the fact that he's muslim is almost tangential; 19 year old male, no job, lots of passports stamps from Syria and Yemen -- sticks up as someone to investigate all by itself.

    And THAT is pretty much the entire argument against profiling on religion. Merely being muslim should be a non-issue.

    When you added on all the rest of the stuff it becomes more of interest, but that's not targeting muslims... that's proper profiling sure ... maybe he's part of some missionary-building-schools-digging-wells project or assisting doctors without borders or god forbid he's visiting his grandmother so even then one shouldn't jump to conclusions. But yeah, of course that's the person you'd want to look into more... but it's the other stuff, not because he's muslim.

    FWIW the 80 year old Swedish nun would be a good drug mule.
    https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/08...

  40. This Bullshit is Marked, "Insightful"??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    THAT'S what's sad.

  41. MJ was a visionary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He foresaw this moment and was completely prepared.

    1. Re:MJ was a visionary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not so much a visionary as a smooth criminal.

  42. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I get the feeling that anybody who doesn't agree with your narrow view is a racist and a Nazi. Which is funny since that is the kind of thing real racists and Nazis do. But you are "progressive" which makes it alright.

  43. Racial Profiling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What's immoral about this? I understand the objections to mass surveillance, but what's wrong from analyzing the footage to find what you're looking for?

    Nothing, once-off. But suppose what you're looking for is, say, a confidential "anti-terror watch list" with tens of thousands of middle eastern men on it, and the machine stops every middle eastern man? Now it becomes racial profiling, and a very different moral question.

    1. Re: Racial Profiling by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      The machine isn't stopping anyone. This isn't fucking RoboCop.

    2. Re: Racial Profiling by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      Yet...

  44. Re:Classic IBM. by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

    Do you think the police should just be looking for, "some guy"?

    Hey!! That's sooo Sexist! How can you possibly suggest that the police would be so sexist as to be looking only among that male population?

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  45. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what's wrong with identifying suspects from surveillance footage using skin color? nothing, the easiest identifier is their possibly skin color. pussyfooting around this trying not to offend everyone is absolutely irresponsible when you can objectively identify certain shades of skin which helps eliminate everyone else.

    you have footage of a crime, what are they suppoed to do? completely ignore their skin color even when they can clearly see a light/dark skin shade? what the hell is the point of such a system if it doesn't use every possible means of identification?

  46. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  47. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hang on buddy.
    5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... Here come the racists, with the usual cesspit of comments.
    They'll explain to you why they are
    a: Not racist
    b: "Facts" that "support" justified racial biases

    I was here in '97 at the beginning of this site. It's pretty sad.

    That in those days the reaction would have been "intresting technology" and today its this will be used for racial profiling and is inherently evil

  48. Seems Reasonable by nateman1352 · · Score: 1

    Let say your a detective and have a witness that gave you a physical description of a suspect, but doesn't know the person's name (a very common scenario.) It seems like this would be a good way to find that suspect in a crowd. Frankly this is a sensationalist news piece.

  49. Re:Classic IBM. by Megol · · Score: 1

    I'm not racist and I don't see the problem with this. If someone robs a bank and is described as dark skinned should one then be forbidden to include that as a search criteria? Should people that are obviously not fitting the profile of the suspect still be harassed as you can't enter some type of information into the system?

    Criticize racial biases all you want but don't go around bullshitting.

  50. Color me surprised by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    THIS SHOULD BE DISALLOWED!

    Government should only use AI to view and catalog and track people by actual individual faces, walking gait, clothes, clothing style probabilities, license plate, vehicle type, vehicle damage deltas, phone emissions, Bluetooth reflections, WiFi reflections, infrared, night vision, and more all feding into a live tracker database panopticon they can just type your name into to find where you are right now.

    Adding skin color to that is racist and just going too far!!!

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  51. Sorry but skin color is a misnomer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Here's a little known fact: If you separate the luminance and chrominance of skin color (YCrCv), everyone is the same color (chrominance) within a very narrow band not separable by race. We had the opportunity to look at millions images of first grader's of all races taken in the middle of winter in identical lighting conditions and cameras. This eliminated things like makeup and sun burn and other skin color changing factors. The test was done for some proprietary process I cannot talk about. We noticed a surprising detail that we were not looking for. The only difference is in the luminance. So sorry all you racists and race baiters, skin color ain't a thing.

    1. Re:Sorry but skin color is a misnomer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So sorry all you racists and race baiters, skin color ain't a thing.

      Damn my lying eyes!

      Next tell me how penises don't exist.

    2. Re:Sorry but skin color is a misnomer by tkotz · · Score: 1

      You are technically correct.

      Unfortunately people driven by racist arguments probably aren't going to be slowed by the difference between shades and color. Unless maybe they are color theorists in which case they probably at least suspected this already.

      Thinking about this makes it seem fairly obvious, melanin is a fairly dark pigment and thus different concentrations can really only change the shade.

    3. Re:Sorry but skin color is a misnomer by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      If you separate the luminance and chrominance of skin color (YCrCv), everyone is the same color (chrominance)

      A laughably trivial example of a straw man argument.

      Color, in terms of skin tone, has nothing to do with chrominance v.s. luminance,
      but refers to the overall appearance of someone's skin in a standard lighting environment.

      And the skin tone of one "white" person has far more in common with that of the average "white"
      person than it does with that of the average "African American" person.

      The real point is that skin tone can not be used to predict any other characteristic
      such as intelligence, talent or any kind of personality trait.

  52. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hang on buddy.
    5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... Here come the racists, with the usual cesspit of comments.
    They'll explain to you why they are
    a: Not racist
    b: "Facts" that "support" justified racial biases

    Reality has a racist bias.

  53. Re:Classic IBM. by dcw3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Clearly (no color intended), color is a parameter, one of many, in the description of anyone. There's nothing racist about describing the color of someone's skin, or for AI to use it in identifying someone. The fact that you can't accept that says more about the chip on your shoulder than about the facts of the matter.

    Oh, and FU for calling me a racist.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  54. Re:Classic IBM. by taustin · · Score: 1

    I though the Left wanted to require all criminals to be identified as "Republicans."

  55. mmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Mmmm...IBM...Third Reich...Skin Color...oh, now I see the connection. Common, media.

  56. Re:Classic IBM. by pgmrdlm · · Score: 1

    With Herman Munster(Fred Gwynne) as the judge.

    --
    Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
  57. It's a Gorilla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just look for Gorilla's!

  58. Random subjects by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To be fair, instead of doing a search based on a racial feature, the system should return a perfectly random suspect.

  59. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it not inherently racist? How long has it been since all black men were refereed to as "boys"?

  60. Re:Classic IBM. by laie_techie · · Score: 1

    I'm not racist and I don't see the problem with this. If someone robs a bank and is described as dark skinned should one then be forbidden to include that as a search criteria? Should people that are obviously not fitting the profile of the suspect still be harassed as you can't enter some type of information into the system?

    Criticize racial biases all you want but don't go around bullshitting.

    This can be a problem if it's generalized. Let's say that 77% of illegal immigrants in the US are from Latin America (71% from Mexico or Central America; 6% from South America). Does that mean that Latinos should face more scrutiny? NO because that is racial profiling, and most Latinos in the US are here legally. The difference between this scenario and what IBM is doing is paramount: IBM is helping to look for individual suspects whereas the other is just a drag net.

  61. Re:Classic IBM. by lgw · · Score: 1

    You have to use newspeak terms now. When you hear about blacks committing crimes they are referred to as "youths" by the media.

    Now that's just wrong. The newspeak for black people committing crimes is "urban youths". "Urban", not "youth" is the new black. Of course, most people of any race who commit crimes are young, but it is a bit racist for the media to assume that young black people are criminals.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  62. Re:Classic IBM. by gweihir · · Score: 0

    The tools you use influence how you think about the world. Give the police the possibility to classify people by skin color, and they wil mistakenly believe it is an important factor. Give them tanks, and they will believe they are in a war. And so on.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  63. Re:PC BS by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "Ignore the 19 year old muslim male with no job and lots of passport stamps from Syria and Yemen. "

    Report it lost.
    Get a new passport without stamps.
    Profit.

    But jokes aside, nobody registers those idiotic 18th century things called 'stamps'.

  64. Re:Classic IBM. by sycodon · · Score: 1

    Damn!

    Guess I have to check my Male Privilege.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  65. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stupid yes, but calling black men "boy" actually is a real thing and I would not be surprised at all if "youths" was the new "we're not being racist" version of that.

  66. Re:Classic IBM. by gnick · · Score: 1

    Give the police the possibility to classify people by skin color, and they wil mistakenly believe it is an important factor.

    If you're looking for a specific person, the skin color is very important.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  67. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you think the police should just be looking for, "some guy"?

    Hey now, that's sexist to assume the perp is a guy. Best to use "person". I don't think anyone will get upset at that (yet).

  68. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We need to be politically correct when we report crimes and search for suspects:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQByeGkJJSc

  69. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    men are boys. A black man, similar to a white man, is therefore also a boy. Often elderly individuals will refer to younger persons as children, girls or boys, as they are youn(er). This nonsense about "youths" being interjected as a tongue in cheek slur is ludicrous and fishing at best

  70. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The problem is that while the feature is designed to be used to find people matching a witness' description, it can also be used to find people matching the police officer's personal biases in the absence of better evidence.

    The police probably should not have a tool capable of making list of people fitting: "wan close by and is black" (a criteria we know has been used in the past) since it's plainly obvious that's lazy policework at beast and racist bullshit on average given that history has shown they can't be trusted to not abuse that capability.

  71. Re: Classic IBM. by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

    Of course, most people of any race who commit crimes are young

    There is likely a bunch of survivorship bias in that. Some people might "grow out" of being a criminal but this is likely small crimes. Hardened criminals aren't likely to suddenly stop committing crimes. Either they get good enough where they stop getting caught or they are removed from the pool via either prison or death.

  72. Equal Opportunity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes IBM helped the Nazis deal with the jews!

    IBM profit at any cost take your pick H1B, anti jew, anti black, etc.

    They may even help north Korea as well.

    Didn't they also provide the translation system for the Nuremberg Trials?

  73. Re: Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 0

    Referring to men as boys is just a modern language change that came out of the feminism camp to demean men and equate them to children. On the other hand men who hang out with many of those women do tend to act like boys.

  74. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 2

    It hasn't been acceptable to call a black man boy during the 36 years I've been alive anywhere in the US. The latest and greatest is women calling white men boys to demean them in much the same manner.

  75. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hang on buddy.
    5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... Here come the racists, with the usual cesspit of comments.
    They'll explain to you why they are
    a: Not racist
    b: "Facts" that "support" justified racial biases

    I was here in '97 at the beginning of this site. It's pretty sad.

    Your virtue signalling is complete.

    Don't throw your shoulder out patting yourself on the back.

  76. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    Nah, white ghetto kids are still "urban" Most of the worst criminal elements come out of Urban culture, it doesn't really matter what color they happen to be.

  77. Re: Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    "Hardened criminals aren't likely to suddenly stop committing crimes. Either they get good enough where they stop getting caught or they are removed from the pool via either prison or death"

    It depends on what you call "small crimes" but the common factor in people not growing out serious crime is mental illness, either natural or induced from the Trauma of going to prison.

  78. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    They include white male in the descriptions of criminals, they include race and gender in the description of anyone else if they accomplish something of note like science.

  79. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 2

    Ummm skin color is important in this context, this is for visual identification of suspects.

  80. Everyone knows AI's become amazingly racist. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft tried it once, and had to shut it down.

  81. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    And he referred to him as a "guy" which isn't consistent with calling "guys" boys and equating them with children... you know, to correct the p-hack provable pay gap.

  82. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    Ummm... better check your human privilege before PETA finds out.

  83. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    I dunno, you did just assume the criminal would have dark skin. What if people are pissed about this being used to target Asians?

  84. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    This isn't flamebait but rather someone taking the bait laid by someone inflaming him by calling him a racist.

  85. NAZI IBM nothing changes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Jews should have demanded IBM's disencorporation for their contributions to thr Holocaust.. IBM is at it again. Fascists never change.

  86. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't know. Imagine a witness comes and says "The perpetrator was was thin, white and not very muscular". It makes sense to not search for asian body builders in the footage...

  87. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If victim will pass only partial info like more or less age, hair color, skin color , some items of clothing described ... make sense to filter for that info ...
    if perpetrator was white why filter all that is not white ? Yes white is also color.

  88. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 0

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  89. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A serious metastudy should be done to find all the mentally retarded SJW Slashdotters modding shit down because they are, well, mentally retarded SJWs. And immolate their accounts, include all history. Go Taliban on the fuckers.

  90. Re:Classic IBM. by sycodon · · Score: 1

    That reminds me. Need to pick up a Ribeye on the way home tonight.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  91. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Complete and total bull-krap. The large majority of crimes are done because the criminal have anti-social mentality, not because they have mental illness. It is human garbage that think that they are above the law and that other people's property are there to be taken by them and they have no regard for human life.

  92. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Has any white man ever been offended by being called a boy by a woman?

  93. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Doubtful given his long history of posting stupid shit.

  94. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, I can't debate other people's beliefs and ideas logically either so I'm totally with you.

  95. Eye Witness Account by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    police: "can you tell us what the person looked like?"
    witness: "5'10" male, brown hair, dark skin"
    police: "Okay, we can't search by skin color so that'll end up being 3 million results. When we're going through those 3 million results we can use our brains to filter out the wrong skin color but that will take a couple weeks. Can you tell us anything else to reduce the search results?"
    witness: "Sorry, that's all I remember"
    police: "It's a good thing you're telling us now because soon their going to make it so we can't filter by sex too."

  96. Re:Classic IBM. by superdave80 · · Score: 1

    Really? Black men refer to other men as their 'boys' all the time. Of course, they call each other 'my nigga' all the time and nobody cares. But if you are white and say those things... oooooooohhh boy, I mean, ooooooooh man!

  97. God Dammit Slashdot!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Enough with the click-bait bullshit!

    Just trying to get the 'muh racism' clicks...
    If they were searching by sex would it be sexist?
    If they were searching by age would it be ageist?
    If they were searching by height would it be heightist?
    If they were searching by hair color would it be colorist?

    For fuck's sake - it's just the ability to search through footage based on criteria - enough with the bullshit!

  98. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now that's just wrong. The newspeak for black people committing crimes is "didnu nuffins"

    If the editors write maximum shitpost they deserve to read the same.

  99. So you CAN'T search by skin color? by superdave80 · · Score: 1

    So, are we expecting that police officers, when looking for a suspect, will not go to the most obvious feature of a person while scanning a crowd? How would that conversation go?

    Officer 1: OK, let's search for that black guy that is suspected of robbing that bank.

    Officer 2: Gottcha. I'll look for some guys with black skin and....

    Officer 1: No, no, no. Don't LOOK for guys with black skin. That's racist.

    Officer 2: Soooo... I SHOULDN'T look for guys with black skin? Isn't that the guy we are trying to arrest?

    Officer 1: Well, yes, you should LOOK for a black guy, but don't ACT like you are looking for a black guy!

    Officer 2: Wha....?

    Officer 1: I don't know... just... search casual.

  100. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, not seeing the problem here. Is the argument that you should discount physical appearance when searching for a suspect?

    "Suspect is a white male, about 6' tall, walks with a limp".... "I'm sorry Dave, I can't search based on racial characteristics, gender or physical disabilities, all I'm allowed to report is that the suspect is 6' tall."

    But then I come from a city where the media is discouraged from reporting the race of the "youths" involved in a recent surge in "youth" crime (hint: most have one race in common), so the above doesn't seem too far fetched... just stupid.

  101. Re: Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    Yes

  102. Re: Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    "It is human garbage that think that they are above the law and that other people's property are there to be taken by them and they have no regard for human life."

    The law is just a set of codes to make sure it is difficult for the poor to take other people's property while providing protections for the actions of the wealthy doing the same.

  103. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am White with black friends and say nigga all the time. They don't care. Because they are my niggas. Now if you said it, we'd have problems. Because you aren't one of us.

    I was born in the ghetto and raised their for 20 years. I have experience.

  104. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There

  105. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This.

    I grew up in the "ghetto" and I can say from first hand experience, both white and black peoples both commit crimes. It's crabs In a bucket. By design.

  106. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, just keep giving your kids guns so we can keep breeding your family out of the gene pool.

    You keep doing what you are doing, we will be rid of your gene infestation in 2 generations. Thank you good sir.

  107. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't forget to stop by the gun shop to pick up Ammo for your daughter who might be raped by thugs. Any day now right?

  108. Re: Classic IBM. by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

    What the actual fuck?

    A man is a man. A boy is a boy. A woman is a woman. A girl is a girl.

    I dare you to walk up to a black man and call him boy.. We'll see if he buys you retarded logic.

  109. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Modding a comment into Oblivion ain't a fucking Debate, cock sucker.

  110. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I dunno, you did just assume the criminal would have dark skin. What if people are pissed about this being used to target Asians?

    As a group Asians are FAR MORE law-abiding than blacks. Probably because they highly value things like fatherhood and education and don't value things like "thug life". In traditional Asian cultures having a relative/close friend in prison would bring great shame, not street cred.

  111. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    Tell it to the Asian gangs, yakuza, and various criminal organizations in China. Indians are technically Asian although India is a very distinct sub-continent but it also has streets filled with criminals and delinquents.

    As a group nothing, every white, black, and asian is an individual every large scale metric becomes meaningless when applied to an individual. The only valid way to apply information to a group is one individual at a time.

  112. by skin colour by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't believe how clickbait slashdot is these days. It's almost like they want people to be upset about racial stuff so they deliberately make titles misleading to imply that it's not a search based on physical attributes, but a racial issue. You deserve all the racial nonsense shit you bring it upon yourself. I hope all your future articles are shitted up by "racists" from both sides.

    1. Re:by skin colour by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't believe how clickbait slashdot is these days.

      Let's give blame where blame is due.

      Posted by msmash on Thursday September 06, 2018 @10:46AM from the closer-look dept

  113. Re: Classic IBM. by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    I dare you to walk up to a black boy and call him 'boy'.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  114. Re: Classic IBM. by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    This can be a problem if it's generalized. Let's say that 77% of illegal immigrants in the US are from Latin America (71% from Mexico or Central America; 6% from South America). Does that mean that Latinos should face more scrutiny?

    If you're specifically looking for illegal immigrants and if they truly do make up the overwhelming majority then yes, absolutely.

    NO because that is racial profiling, and most Latinos in the US are here legally.

    So what? "Scrutiny" does not mean "lock them all up". If you're looking for X, and most of X are in group Y, then the most productive use of your time is to look primarily at group Y. If you know that breast cancer occurs far more often in women than it does in men then it makes sense to screen women more often and more vigilantly than men. Calling that "profiling" does not make it wrong.

  115. Re: Classic IBM. by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    Remember kids are too small to handle pistols and rifles safely.

    They are much better suited to crew served weapons. Machine guns and mortars. Where their low strength is less of an issue and they can learn teamwork.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  116. Um... how exactly is the state enforcing by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    discrimination? Be specific.

    Do you mean "Affirmative Action"? Because that's usually what folks mean when they use language like you just did. If so, for what I wish was the last time "Affirmative Action" is _not_ a quota system. All "Affirmative Action" does is require businesses keep records of their hiring decisions and furnish them on request. This is necessary if you're going to make discrimination on the basis of protective classes illegal since otherwise it's the businesses word against the person they refused to hire.

    Now, if you're going to point to private quotas then that's all well and good, but those quotas are illegal and if you cared to be bothered you could get them ruled as such. Yes, "White Male" is just as much a protective class as "Black Woman".

    If you mean something else entirely then that's fine. But your tone is a touch on the hostile side and you explicitly call out the government for enforcing discrimination when since the 60s the gov't has done the polar opposite. Usually that means you're leaning towards the alt-right talking points I mentioned above. If that's not the case please elaborate.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  117. You do understand that there's almost no SJWs by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Most of what you think of as "Social Justice Warriors" these days are Russian Trolls trying to divide the country.

    There's a very, very small number of nut job feminists running out of community colleges. They've got absolutely no power but they're blown way out of proportion by the likes of Fox News for much the same purpose as the Russian Trolls pretend to be SJWs: They're trying to get a rise out of you and distract you from economic problems with meaningless social ones (to wit: A loss of social standing).

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:You do understand that there's almost no SJWs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you miss the whole "Woman sitting behind Kavanaugh flashes White Power sign"?
      A bunch of people that don't realize that 4chan trolled them good and hard tried make racist hay out of the hand position of someone that vaguely resembled an OK sign, based on a 4chan hoax. Like the free-bleeders or milk drinkers.

      SJWs are very much alive and well on Twitter, Facebook, and at your local Starbucks. Just show an "It's OK to be white" shirt to any of those places, and watch what happens.

    2. Re:You do understand that there's almost no SJWs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of what you think of as "Social Justice Warriors" these days are Russian Trolls trying to divide the country.

      What is the factual basis for that assertion? You presented no evidence whatsoever.

      Many of my present and former coworkers and people I knew in college are SJWs. I know because I see what they post on Facebook. I would bet that a lot of people reading this have the same experience.

      Seems like you are just making shit up.

  118. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    True this. The longer it takes the media to release a description or the name of a suspect in a bad crime or terrorist attack, the less likely it is that the suspect is a white male. Credit to Ann Coulter for that one, and it's amazing how right she is.

    Meanwhile, if you're using a computer to analyze images, don't you think it should, well, analyze them using all available data? If I'm looking for a white person in a room with 50% white people in it, I've effectively eliminated the other 50% of the room from my search. That's not racist, it's smart. What's dumb is trying to make absolutely everything about race. Leftists are busy trying to pretend that the 1960s and 1970s never happened. It's kind of a consequence of their whole generation I think--in the tech world we're saddled with young dumbasses who reinvent everything that's already been done and expect a participation trophy for it.

    And BTW, I'm opposed on principle to the police having any kind of mass surveillance system that retains data for more than a very brief period of time. You want to watch a street via camera in real time? I'm sort of OK with the concept. You want to retain data on the comings and goings of people that you can identify via a computer algorithm for years on end? That's seriously not OK no matter what excuse they give.

  119. Re: Classic IBM. by Cederic · · Score: 1

    Yeah. REAL demeaning.
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-co...

  120. Re:Classic IBM. by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

    Police say the new technology does not make it easier to catch criminals or prevent crimes, but it does make it easier to find someone to pin them on.

  121. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope. China has a much larger population than the United States, but far far less crime. If you were to subtract the Blacks and Latinos from our statistics, our crime rates would be much lower.

    Crime statistics are extremely racist, especially if they are accurate. That's why no one talks about them on the news, and that's why cops are perceived to be so hard on blacks. They know from direct experience exactly where the crime is coming from, and unless they are willing to ignore black neighborhoods completely, like Chicago, they are going to run into a lot more black and brown criminals than whites.

    Look up the statistics of criminal behavior by race. It's there for anyone to see.

  122. Re: Classic IBM. by sycodon · · Score: 1

    She's a big girl. She won't be a victim like Mollie Tibbetts

    Unlike you.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  123. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It couldn't possibly be that cops encounter one particular ethnic groups in violent criminal encounters in grotesque, lopsidedly disproportionate numbers. It couldn't possibly be that continuous, unceasingly repeated experience with this particular ethnic group causes police to deal with them in a brusque, impatient and frequently harsh manner. No, surely not. You'd get tired of the same thing every goddamn day, too.

    Pay no attention to violent crime statistics categorized by race, gathered by the government and available for years. Black men aren't over-represented in jails because they are innocent, harmless lambs. There is a truth here that you can't force yourself to look at.

  124. Re:Classic IBM. by dryeo · · Score: 1

    I can call a friend an arsehole or cunt and get away with it as my friends know me. If I call a random person a cunt or arsehole, bad things are likely to happen.

    --
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  125. Re:Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .... Here come the racists, with the usual cesspit of comments.
    They'll explain to you why they are
    a: Not racist
    b: "Facts" that "support" justified racial biases

    You do realize, that is exactly how the New York Times defended Sarah Jeong?

  126. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are a perfect example of the kind of human garbage the ac was talking about. Somebody who thinks that taking from somebody else is acceptable.

  127. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes they have violent tendencies and thus the reason they are imprisoned often.

  128. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I call people arsehole and cunt all the time. If they dont like it... I have more guns.

  129. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    only cucks... no real man

  130. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Property is theft.

  131. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The bright light of civilisation right here boys and girls. Makes me proud, makes everyone proud.

  132. quelle horreur by bingoUV · · Score: 1

    It is "quelle horreur"

    --
    Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
  133. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well played, sir. -PCP

  134. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, you have it backwards. Cucks love being called and treated as boys. Outside of sexual innuendo, real men toss her to the curb

  135. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd take him as a neighbor over a socialist informer busybody.

  136. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Socialism is theft.

  137. Re: Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    Everything one has was taken from someone else, it isn't a question of whether it is acceptable, it isn't preventable.

    Whether you are picking a pocket, taking by physical force, using your relative leverage to negotiate terms with an employee, or inventing a new system of lending and credit to exploit more interest or extract profit via penalties on loans that default; it is all taking from somebody else. All forms of profit are taking from someone else. Which of those are legal mostly seems to follow who has or had power at the time the laws were established and other politics.

    Do you really think pressing someone with physical intimidation to get $20 is any different than exploiting his ignorance to extract an extra $20? Either way you are taking advantage of some weakness or fault to take his $20.

  138. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Right, but your form of bigotr..err sorry, is completely different? If there's anything the left mastered it is hypocrisy.

  139. Re: Classic IBM. by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

    Exactly, one would likely prevent your house or family from getting harmed by an intruder if he noticed and heard something. The other is likely to hide in a closet and call the cops and pretend to be a hero.

  140. Humans using technology for evil. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pretty simple.

  141. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yo fault for no talkin ebony, cracka.

  142. Re:Classic IBM. by shaitand · · Score: 1

    The chinese government is completely corrupt and controls all reporting, and also rewrites any offending content that travels over Chinese data lines so I'm curious how you think you'd know any sort of real statistic on crime rates. In the US we definitely don't have an illegal organized criminal element as powerful as the Chinese triads, perhaps the closest we came was during prohibition. There are certain elements that are obviously immoral, unethical, and harmful to society that are as powerful in the US but they are powerful enough that they are legal.

    "Crime statistics are extremely racist, especially if they are accurate. That's why no one talks about them on the news, and that's why cops are perceived to be so hard on blacks. They know from direct experience exactly where the crime is coming from, and unless they are willing to ignore black neighborhoods completely, like Chicago, they are going to run into a lot more black and brown criminals than whites."

    Sure but by your own assessment, that has more to do with culture than race. There is also a very significant relationship to desperation and poverty but accounting for that it still takes significant phacking and spin to erode the correlation with race. Correlation doesn't equal causation. It is also self feeding, because of those statistics being true even the most idealistic young officer becomes disillusioned and begins profiling which means they are more likely to catch brown criminals. In the real world the criminals who are caught don't even represent a statistically significant sample of those who break the law so those numbers aren't useful for assessing crime. And there you have it, the moderate reality that stands somewhere in the middle and contains uncomfortable realities neither extremist political party wants you to consider... if you did people might realize there is some common ground to be found that doesn't require making race the issue but would attack the racially targeted problems alongside the rest.

  143. Ok to be autistic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even though it's ok to be white. I can read between the lines if you print it on a shirt.

  144. russian troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GB2bed Ivan.

  145. Re:Classic IBM. by superdave80 · · Score: 1

    I think you missed my point. It has nothing to do with friends or not friends. It has to do with white vs. black. Just SAYING the word nigga in conversation (not calling someone or a group of people that) as a white person would automatically get you labeled a racist. If you are black... don't worry about it. It's fine since you have the correct skin color to use that word.

    Ok, /. what the eff is a "Filter error: Lameness filter encountered"?

  146. Re: Classic IBM. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kind of like how if you are looking for the biggest CO2 polluters. You look at Americans first because they are the highest. Even though there may be places with more people. Targeting certain groups is the most productive use of your time.