Figures that when I have something substantial wanted to write about, I have some long memory loaded up. I’ll just to roll with it, I guess.
The Instagram folks will appreciate this link.
That one’s from TheFP, but I’ve seen things on local news, Coffee & COVID, Or Reason. Or Reason.
There was a really good piece on it from ABC a few years ago.
I do have kind of a reflexive antipathy towards “the surveillance state,” but the technology emerged in spite of government.
The question is whether there’s things that can be done to ensure government doesn’t abuse new technology.
Law Enforcement is going to use the tools in irresponsible ways!
Might I have searched myself when I had access to a police database? Yep.
Ooh! There’s the police report I filed in 1999 after getting threatened by a former friend who was dating my ex.
Address? The Old Apartment.
Hmm. What else happened there? Oh! Someone died, probably in my bedroom in 1986.
Does the memory of that uncomfortable feeling play into why I check addresses of properties to see if something bad happened there?
Hey, Grok, did anything significant happen at or near 123 Maple Ave., and what crimes have happened recently?
Sometimes, however, old footage is used for smart purposes. Like the FBI figuring out the January 6th pipe bomber.
Is it a problem that footage existed, and investigators finally figured it out years after it happened?
Answer to rhetorical question omitted.
Do I appreciate Jeff Childers, of @FloridaMan__ LLP’s suggestions?
Um.
No, you shouldn’t be doing that.
No, I probably shouldn’t have been doing what I might have been doing in 2001.
But does that mean the technologies should go away?
Um.
Please see the tagline for this site; “Everything Gets Deleted Eventually.” I hope the implicit part of that occurred to you — no, if it goes to physical media at some point, it’ll get found. Whether it’s printed media, or digital media, if it can be read, it can be decoded.
I thought I’d linked something about it before, but people recovered data from hard disks that were aboard Columbia. Burning up on reentry, and getting stuck at the bottom of a bayou doesn’t delete everything.
Nobody who worked on getting that data back had any nefarious motives. Nor might have I when I might have searched myself.
I suppose there’s probably already rules of evidence that could challenge whatever’s ferreted out. Officer Friendly, you stumbled across this when you were looking for a vehicle suspected in this other crime, not because you were looking for that girl who ghosted you, right?
But there also might be video of someone blowing a snot rocket into the flower bed. It’s there, and it’ll probably always be there, so how do you keep it from getting out?
You could just stop recording, no? But this stuff is everywhere. I don’t know that there’s a good way to go back.
Or that going back would be worthwhile.
But how do you deal with this guy?
He’s a good civil servant ensuring public safety!
Okay, what I had loaded up turns out to not be all that long…..
Flashback to 1999
Have you ever gotten a glimpse of yourself and think, "man, I really look like shit?"
I kind of feel that way now. I mean, I don't look like I just woke up, but bad nonetheless. I'm tired, so my eyes are baggy, I'm way overdue for a haircut, and I forgot to shave today.
But maybe it's a good thing to look a little rough around the edges sometimes.
I will be back to my Marine look soon, though.
What do you think of your appearance today?
It’s somewhat similar. I haven’t shaved; I did yesterday afternoon when I showered. I could use a haircut. I’m wearing the cheap summer shirt I ordered while I was in Biloxi earlier this year. I’m in sweat pants.
But I think I’m finished for the morning.