So that they can get pictures of license plates tied to addresses to sell to repo companies so that the tow truck can come get your Hellcat.
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The problem with these, and all, automated systems that detect EVERYTHING is that current code enforcement hardly detects 0.1% of existing violations, by design. That's how they roll. They only kick into action when somebody complains.
Think of speeding tickets - how easy would it be for our roadside ALPR systems to time your transit from point A to point B, calculate your minimum average speed to make the trip in that time, and mail you a citation when you're over the posted speed limit? Not hard at all, but that's not how speeding tickets roll in this country (and most others, too.) If they really wanted total enforcement, your car already knows when you're speeding, it can already wirelessly tattle on you to roadside monitors, they could effect 100% citation coverage if they wanted to, but whoever tries that is comitting political suicide.
One of the reasons HOAs are such groaners is that the types of people who run for HOA president occasionally (not always) go in for this "100% enforcement" mentality and due to the utter apathy of HOA residents who can't be bothered to depose their despot, they can persist in that mode for years. Last HOA I lived in had fearless leaders who "lived in the back" and hired an outside company to write upkeep violations, but only on houses in the front of the neighborhood.
When I lived in a big city with a code enforcement department instead of an HOA system, things went along for decades without much flap, the occasional citation on the really persistently bad violators - as things are expected to work, but then some new neighbors moved in and attended the city-neighborhood meeting and started chanting "just enforce the law, JUST ENFORCE THE LAW" and, so, code inspectors were sent to walk the neighborhood by foot and write every violation they could see from the street. Our 400 houses got more violations written up in one day than the entire city of 40,000 homes received in the prior year.
So, these systems that "observe 13,000 violations in a single week" need to chill out, turn the filters way way up and figure out what the 13 most important violations in the city are each MONTH and work with those property owners to get them fixed. Use the photo-scans to pre-screen citizen complaints, ensure that there's even a problem worth sending an inspector for when the neighbor says "there's been a junky car here up on blocks for the past 2 years and somebody needs to do something about it" the records can show whether that's true, or a gross exaggeration before prioritizing which citizen calls get seen this week and which need to chill out and "wait their turn."
On the one hand, yes, fully enforcing these things would be gross overpolicing.
On the other hand, the selective enforcement is, by design, a way to manufacture an excuse to harass and persecute minorities/undesirables.
The correct solution is to relax or abolish the laws themselves until they diminish to the point that fully enforcing them is reasonable.
the selective enforcement is, by design, a way to manufacture an excuse to harass and persecute minorities/undesirables.
Absolutely, and this is another thing that's going to prevent "fair" algorithmic enforcement from happening.
The correct solution is to relax or abolish the laws themselves until they diminish to the point that fully enforcing them is reasonable.
I have always thought this, but I don't get my jollies out of selectively "sticking it to" people different than me for the same things I get away with all the time. Apparently, a lot of our government, police, and voters do...
It is like work monitoring that can monitor every keystroke and trip to the bathroom. If you expect people to be 100% rule abiding, perfect and predictable I've got news for you. The people putting these systems into place would never stand for them being applied to them.
time your transit from point A to point B, calculate your minimum average speed to make the trip in that time, and mail you a citation when you're over the posted speed limit?
Norway does this.
Norway does a lot of sensible things that seem impossible in the USA.
You’re not suggesting the automated mailing of speeding tickets based on average speed is reasonable, are you?
I'm Norwegian. Read in the news that there was a guy who used to set a timer and count the seconds when driving through a tunnel with average speed cameras so he wouldn't get fined.
Just keep the speed limit, you'd get there at the same time. Sometimes i wonder how these people even survive.
I know that Colorado does this as well. Probably other states in the USA do too. https://www.codot.gov/programs/speedenforcement
If it's clearly posted, that's fine - and appropriate in certain mountain pass situations.
If it's a surprise when the fine arrives in the mail, that's pure unadulterated evil.
Pop up fines - impediment to free travel - arbitrary tax collection. I mean, if you want to go back to Roman times where any government officials you happen to meet can just grab you by the shoulder and "collect taxes for the emperor" because you happen to be within reach - you can call that "not evil" if you like. I call it regression of civilization.
Yes, if you want to post a clearly visible easily readable sign: "SPEED LIMIT 80kph, VIOLATORS WILL RECEIVE FINES UP TO $5000 BY MAIL" then that's fair game. If it's a camera on a post with no notice and just the normal SPEED LIMIT signs that mean nothing of the sort the world over... that's like a troll hiding under a bridge shaking down unsuspecting travelers as they pass.
Normally I'm not fond of complaints with regards to transportation regulation, because there's usually good safety reason, but sincerely fuck receiving a ticket in the mail I didn't know I could even receive. I think speed limits help people not die, but there are reasonable ways to do things. Like the person also replying to you said, I am fine if I'm warned, but otherwise I'm legit just getting my pockets ran.
I think speed limits help people not die
I do too, except the way they have evolved is terrible.
They're (almost all) the same day, night, rain, shine, sleet, snow or ice.
They're primarily enforced on nice sunny days when it's not uncomfortable for the officers to be standing outside their cars.
They're almost never enforced on the busiest roads during rush hours.
Within the US road funding system, the busiest roads get their speed limits raised in order to increase their "Level of Service" to prevent them from losing federal funding. US1 south out of downtowm Miami is a damn nighmare at 45mph with all the traffic it carries, but other similarly configured roads which are straighter with better sightlines fewer side streets and less traffic get 35mph speed limits because they won't lose their funding for low LOS issues. (my info may be out of date about US1, I left Miami 25 years ago, but while I was working at DOT classifying roads in the 1990s I had to commute that death trap.)
And then you can start talking about the small towns that use speed enforcement as a source of revenue.
There's signs posted in advance that say something along the lines of "Speed Enforcement Camera Ahead". The only reason they'd be a surprise is if you're not paying attention to signage. They're in the mountains, but I've mostly seen them out in the flat eastern parts of Colorado where the roads are mostly long straight stretches over flat terrain. Which makes sense, since that's where it's easy to speed.
Which makes sense, since that’s where it’s easy to speed.
Depends on how you look at "makes sense." It's easy to speed, it's relatively safer to speed (except in blinding snow conditions when the cameras probably don't work too well...) So, if "makes sense" is about maximizing revenue, then sure: more people will be breaking the law where the law itself makes less sense...
The problem with these, and all, automated systems that detect EVERYTHING is that current code enforcement hardly detects 0.1% of existing violations, by design.
True, but once it's automated, it can easily be archived for future reference. Then it's in your file for who knows what future use.
I was looking at this, wondering what I asked Claude to get this, before realizing it is Lemmy.
The only way to stop or reverse this is to get conservative capitalists out of our government.
I mean aside from literal bloody revolution, which some people say is the only way. And, as much as this may be true, it will take a lot more than what has been happening so far to incite that sort of action, so the next actionable step is to vote for and support socialists to push back against the filthy rich and their corrupt cronies that infest our government at every level.
The only way to stop or reverse this is to get conservative capitalists out of our government.
So basically everyone including the Democratic Socialist Mayor of Seattle.
...so the next actionable step is to vote for and support socialists...
On the east Coast the formerly fiery Mamdani has gone silent on this issue since becoming Mayor.
I can find examples of this kind of thing from all over the United States. I'm using Mayors Wilson and Mamdani because they directly refute the idea that "Socialists" will stop this. They clearly will not.
[Flock] run what it calls convoy analysis to flag vehicles that keep turning up near each other.
There's an interesting article written back when it was revealed that the post office was recording the envelopes of every piece of mail it handles and what kind of data they could extrapolate from it. [If you've mailed a letter at the counter in the past few years, you'll know that they bug you if you haven't put a return address on the envelope.] Anyway, it's called "Finding Paul Revere" and I found it an interesting read.
...can yards and house fronts for code violations: overgrown grass, illegal dumping, peeling paint...
I'm sure nobody's going to get outrageous fines due to an AI's false positives.
I genuinely hope it does nothing but drown people in false positives, to the point where the people who put this idea forward have to leave the state under witness protection.
Unfortunately, it's probably just going to end up fucking a bunch of innocent people over, and the people who put the idea forward will take a nice vacation before returning to their life as normal.
the people who put this idea forward have to leave the state under witness protection.
A body bag would also be acceptable. Where are all the heavily armed libertarians when you need them?
Why the fuck is "overgrown grass' illegal?
Who wants to live in these places
That's the announcement. It isn't the story.
AI writing detected in an article about the evils of AI. It’s like rain on your wedding day.
How's it going America?
Oh...
The Land of Free* *Terms and conditions apply.
Of all places, the fucked up red run Florida Oblast. I thought the MAGA nutters were all about "freedom."
Freedom (like free market, etc) means the freedom for corps to do whatever they want. The exact opposite of what Adam Smith meant.
Classic Murica: redefine a specific term and claim it's in line with the original definition. If you can't beat the facts, play with the terms behind those facts. Win!
The idea of putting Cameras on City Vehicles and using AI to find problems, including Code Enforcement issues, is a good one IMO. The problem, as the article notes, is what that data is going to be used for in the future. We used to call this a Slippery Slope argument but the past 10 years have proven that if data is harvested that it will eventually be misused; it's some kind of parallel to Godwin's Law that I am going to coin as "Flock's Law".
In this specific instance Flock's Law tells us that the authorities will inevitably start scanning the photos / videos for people in order to track movements, the Police will be in the database stalking people, and you'll start getting tickets for over-filling your trash can.
Meanwhile all people really want, and what won't happen, is someone to come by to get that absolutely jungle of a lawn mowed, fix a broken sidewalk, replace a missing street sign, or move the damn boat / camper / trailer / junk car that has been parked in the street for the last year.
I guess they won't be satisfied until we are all wearing mechanical suits that will prevent us from doing anything "illegal!"
or have cameras in your own house monitoring your every move. like that dropout/collegehumor skit, where republicans have cameras in every move to monitor as a "thought" police.
Remember the stories about how wifi does a good job of telling where people are in the house? They might already be on that way.
I just put my wifi in a metal box. /s
On a more serious note, how does one fight this? Will putting the router in a wooden or plastic box interfere? What about putting it outside the house but within range?
That is just the start. Next: they want predictive AI to predict every aspect of your life.
After that, they will figure out how to manipulate the WiFi, to control your behavior subtly.
Then, comes make you do crimes, just to punish you for them.
you already have that: your TV, your tablet, your securiy camera, your baby monitor, your doorbell, your neighbor's doorell, your goddamn router from the ISP. your phone.
the game ended when Elon Musk got Trump the votes he needed. there is no freedom any more. all we can do is resist until they disappear us.
I feel like we might as well just shoot right to the 1984 reference
Or just electro shock collars
Our garbage trucks already have been for years… I learned that when I got an “overloaded bin” fine, with a video of my neighbor’s bin being dumped as “evidence.” I had to do a dispute and make them reverse it, not because I care about a dollar or whatever insignificant fine amount, but because, like… fuck off with that shit, you know?
That's enraging.
I'd consider organizing a campaign to leave bricks/debris on the sides of roads on pickup days and throw their garbage on the front door step of whichever gov't body made that decision.
Where I am there is considerable legal precedent preventing surveillance like that.
Yes, absolutely fight for principles if you have the time and energy to. That was messed up.
What if I dont have a garbage truck?
Well your neighbors might
I assume they are rural enough to not get trash service so likely not.
So, they’re creating a landfill near their house? Talk about shitting where you eat.
You go to the landfill.

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