mccMay 22

Me, 1996: No, "Goodtimes" is a hoax, an email can't run computer code or give you a virus

Me, 2000, miserable: Microsoft did something weird and now emails can give you a virus. Bubbleboy is real

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Me, 2010: No, the "Enhance" bit from CSI is not real. There aren't algorithms that can add information to an image.

Me, 2025, miserable: Microsoft did something weird and now the "Enhance" button is real, but the details are fake. Law enforcement IS using it and innocent people will go to prison

Show threadCassandra Granade 🏳️‍⚧️May 22
@mcc The generalization, that a technology is impossible will not stop a tech company from making it and selling it to the police, seems to hold chillingly well.
Show threaddoephin

@xgranade @mcc worse is that this one has a better chance of convincing a jury, too.

(unlike say the ants on a stick bomb detector)

May 22 at 12:59amWeb
Show threadCassandra Granade 🏳️‍⚧️May 22
@doephin @mcc So much has been written about the "CSI effect" in juries. Assuming that effect holds and is supported by evidence (an assumption I don't feel confident making in an unqualified sense), juries seem to believe whatever the fuck they saw on a Dick Wolf or whatever show, so long as someone with an impressive enough uniform tells them that it's true.
Show threadKevin RiggleMay 22
@xgranade @doephin @mcc I wonder if this is changing as the information environment breaks down, although also I worry that this will still somehow not result in better outcomes for innocent people
Show threadPassengerMay 22

@kevinriggle @xgranade @doephin @mcc

In the 90s we used to think that when people had access to more information it would inevitably lead to a freer world, because truth would drive lies out of circulation in a sort of informational-reverse-Gresham's-Law.

Sadly the opposite seems to be the case: a decent-sized chunk of humanity sees truth in all its complexity and recoils from it, preferring a lie that preserves their simplistic preconceptions. Alex Jones and Rupert Murdoch made their fortunes off this.

And those people get to serve on juries.

Show threaddoephinMay 22

@passenger @kevinriggle @xgranade @mcc "fun" fact- once when I did jury duty the judge asked "would you find the defendant guilty right now? If so raise your hand" pre-trial. Like we didn't even know the dude's name.

*Everyone* except me raised their hands.

yeaah. Trial by jury: definitely one of those "best of worst options"things