NY Governor Announces App Version Of State's 'See Something, Say Something' Program
from the swipe-left-to-report-as-potential-terrorist dept
Seizing on a terrorist attack halfway around the world, the governor of New York has vowed to make his state safer by adding more bodies to the NYPD's overstuffed counterterrorism units and, as is the style of the time, introduced an app that will allow any New York resident to report anyone with a camera near a public building, bridge, tunnel, parked car, or power line.
"See Something, Send Something" allows anyone to capture suspicious activity as a photo or written note and send the information to the New York State Intelligence Center. From there, the tip will be reviewed and if relevant, sent to the appropriate law enforcement agency. Public service announcements promoting the campaign will be played at DMV offices and service areas along state highways.The governor's press release reminds New Yorkers that the app is for reporting of suspicious people/objects/actions only and very definitely not for criticizing the government's terrorist hysteria or regaling local DHS Fusion Centers with an assortment of dick pics.
By using the app, which can be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android phone users, there is no worry about who to send the tip to or what phone number to call—users can simply send a photo of the suspicious activity using their device’s camera, by choosing a photo from its library, or sending a written note. It also includes information on what to look for and when to report suspicious activity. The service is already available in Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In order to keep the app focused on safety, users should report only suspicious behavior and situations (e.g., an unattended backpack or briefcase in a public place) rather than beliefs, thoughts, ideas, expressions, associations, or speech unrelated to terrorism or other criminal activity.Well, good luck with that.
The office also reminds users that no matter how often they send messages about the suspicious Muslim listening to ISIS instructions on his headphones with ever-increasing amounts of exclamation points/capital letters, it will never result in local law enforcement instantly arriving to "control the scene."
The app does not replace 911 and should not to be used for someone needing immediate police action or to report an emergency.Not included in the press release is any disclaimer or warning that "immediate police action" may result in serious injury or death, even (or especially) if impending injury/death is what's hoping to be prevented by the summoning of law enforcement.
The governor's office also links to recommended reading material to better inform would-be See-Senders about the warning signs of potential terrorist activity.
Terrorist cells have been known to record and monitor activities, taking pictures and making drawings.ALSO: new parents, artists, people with excessive amounts of time on their hands, public sector employees, everyone who possesses a smartphone, etc.
A clarifying note inside the app that will probably be read by no one adds some cautionary wording not found on the NY DHS website.
Taking pictures or video of facilities, buildings, or infrastructure in a manner that would arouse suspicion in a reasonable person…All reporting on photography should be done within the totality of the circumstances.But acting as an extra set of eyes for a city that has millions of them -- some even located in human skulls -- doesn't just help fight the War on Terror. It also helps fight the War on… Fire.
Being observant supports homeland security and fire prevention efforts.If nothing else, the app comes highly recommended by someone who watches a lot of cable news programming.
This App was on Cnn, Cnbc, Msnbc.. Due to IsIs we have to do all we can to protect ourselvesThe app itself has been around since January 2013. Despite that, it's apparently still only usable in six states. And there seems to be no information available on how many suspicious activity reports the app has generated, much less if it's actually resulted in any attacks prevented.
What it is, though, is "something," the favorite activity of politicians looking to capitalize on tragic events. My Mobile Witness is nothing more than "Do Something: the App." It gives those who feel they need a direct line to local DHS offices something to do with their idle fingers/paranoia and gives the state's top legislator something to say in the wake of the Paris attacks. Everybody wins… except maybe those who are accosted/arrested for whipping out their sketch pad within eyeshot of a public structure.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: andrew cuomo, neighbors, new york, overreaction, say something, see something, send something, spying, surveillance, terrorism, trust
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Me too, but it was at the back of a line of people all taking pictures of the person in line in front of them, stretching all the way down 5th Avenue to the vanishing point.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Mobius Loop
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Mobius Strip
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Mobius Strip
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Mobius Strip
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mobius Strip
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
This message brought to you by the Department for Recursive Humor
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oh man, what I would have given to be a fly on the wall during that sales pitch.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
911
Of course not! 911 was a horribly tragedy and this app will of course make all things better!
How can they even think that an app will replace 911? Are they planning to blow all phones up with that app? If not then why even mentioning 911? Aren't they ashamed?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: 911
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: 911
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: 911
the moment a computer learns to laugh when a human busts their ass on the ice is when we need to be concerned!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Isn't New York City one of those where Uber is being repressed for being un-American or something?
(there are days when plugging a block of granite in series with an irony meter isn't sufficient protection)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The mayor tried that, but it was just his duty to campaign contributors (as everybody immediately recognized) and soon was laughed out of town.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Peek- A-Boo Preet Bharara See's You
I see something:
Emboldened by Silver conviction, Bharara to indict Cuomo Jan 2nd
Three sources are confirming that Bharara intends to indict Governor Andrew Cuomo on January 2nd — along with a half dozen associates and former staffers — on public corruption, racketeering, conspiracy, and honest services fraud.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ooops I Forgot to Include the Link to Report
Three sources are confirming that Bharara intends to indict Governor Andrew Cuomo on January 2nd — along with a half dozen associates and former staffers — on public corruption, racketeering, conspiracy, and honest services fraud.
http://buffalochronicle.com/2015/12/01/emboldened-by-silver-conviction-bharara-to-indict-cuomo -jan-2nd/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ooops I Forgot to Include the Link to Report
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Things to do today ...
1. Go for a walk:
i) Stuff backpack.
ii) Walk to City Hall, Central PD station, Dept. of Sanitation Office, ...
iii) Lean backpack against something and take pic with "ii" in background.
iv) Send pic to governor.
v) Pick up backpack and continue to next location.
vi) Alternatively, take pic of any backpack you can that you can take without owner in resulting pic.
And this looked like a good idea to someone, why exactly?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Things to do today ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Things to do today ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Things to do today ...
Such as a backpack with a pressure cooker inside at the finish line of the Boston Marathon? Yeah, we'll send someone around when we have time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
https://www.syracuse.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/12/citing_mass_shootings_upstate_ny_sheriff_urges _citizens_to_carry_guns.html
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Permissions: What, you worry?
* Determine your exact location
* Determine your network state
* Monitor and change your WIFI state
* Access and modify your accounts
* Create, listen to, and delete your voicemail
* Monitor battery state
* Initiate, monitor and terminate phone calls
* Create, read, and delete text messages
* Listen via your microphone
* View via your camera
* Monitor VPN connections
* Monitor Bluetooth
* Monitor body sensors
* Install, remove, and administer applications
* Read, create or modify all your accounts
* Monitor your tasks, initiate new tasks, terminate any task
* Read and update your calendar
* Record audio and/or video
* Download, upload and change, or remove fingerprints
* Read and/or update your external storage
* Device administration
But it's not like that list should concern you: what, you worry?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Permissions: What, you worry?
This app has access to:
Identity
Uses one or more of: accounts on the device, profile data
Location
Uses the device's location
Photos/Media/Files
Uses one or more of: files on the device such as images, videos, or audio, the device's external storage
Camera
Uses the device's camera(s)
Device ID & call information
Allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call
Most of which make perfect sense. Not sure about the last one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Endless terrorists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Endless terrorists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
App Runs On Smartphones ...
... Why not just have the app autoreport its users, and close the loop?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shit like this ...
I don't want the police storming my house and killing everyone inside because some idiot thinks the scarf I put on my head to keep my hair from getting frizzy in the rain is suspicious.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Shit like this ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Shit like this ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is gonna be sweet...
George Zimmerman, wouldn't have posted nude pics of his "cheating with a dirty Muslim" Girlfriend, if he had this app available to him in Floorda.
It's been around since 2013? Now that it's getting attention, it is gonna get really funny, really fast...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Use it on them
Nice try, the government is the last people you call...and by then you're fighting them instead...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Go to Wall Street
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
After all, we have a president telling us "see something say something; while is Texas they know a little bit about seeing and saying - aka CLOCK BOY.
Folks saw something and said something, and as a result, the President invited CLOCK BOY to the whitehouse to congratulate him for taking a Micronta clock out of its case and shoving it "bomb-like" into a pencil case.
Meanwhile CLOCK BOY wants $15 MILLEEON DOLLARS from the folks that saw something and said something. And Mr. President does NOT have the backs of the see'er/sayers.
So all we need now is an "official" app that allows AG Loretta Lynch to pull us out and shove us into the spotlights for seeing and saying.
Anyone that "sees something says something" with this app runs a real risk of having their life ruined. If you're going to see-say - do it anonymously - not with an app that allows "them" to ruin you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]