“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Thursday that it has launched [an iOS app] to harness the public’s help in trying to track down potential child sex predators in urgent cases,” Stephen Dinan reports for The Washington Times.
“The app, which ICE said allows tips to be reported anonymously 24 hours a day, builds on a recent program where the agency has released photos of persons it believes are involved in child pornography or sex abuse,” Dinan reports. “That program has helped snare several alleged predators and rescue children from those situations, ICE said… ICE officials highlighted the most urgent case the app will profile: an unknown suspect they believe is producing child pornography with a girl who appears to be between 10 and 12 years of age. The agency released a photo and description of the man from videos.”
Dinan reports, “The Operation Predator App, as the agency has dubbed it, is available on Apple’s iTunes App Store now, and ICE said it plans to expand the app to other smartphones soon. The app allows people to easily share the latest alerts on their own social media profiles or to email them around to friends, tapping their own networks to help authorities.”
Full article here.
Given the concerns about government surveillance and tracking, what are the enviable consequences of a “FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APP” running on your iPhone. It makes my skin crawl.
Anonymously? Yeah right. Admittedly though it’s a good idea that hopefully won’t be abused.
“.. won’t be abused ..”
Lynn … what did the NSA just get busted doing… recently?
And now the FBI wants to put an app on your phone ..
(never mind what they say it’s for)
Do you see a pattern developing ?
“Predator App”
aptly named
This is so ripe for abuse (pun not intended).
We’ve already seen where folks are being “turned in” by neighbors and not as pranks, but in retribution or harassment.
This is the “turn in your neighbor” app. This app would work in the former Soviet Block. I guess that is what we have become?
One more reason for the NSA to monitor all activities. How do we prove our innocence when confronted by one of these “call ins”?
Welcome to 1984!
Comment quoted from the original link worth repeating, “While I detest child abusers and wish nothing but swift justice for them, This “Tell on anyone you want to” “App” is more snitch culture we are being indoctrinated into supporting on the whim of “It’s for the children”. The ABC agencies love to use children as their skeleton key to touch the soft spot of americans to gain control and further the police state.”
Alright now, I am telling on you for that comment.
cogent, astute response.
No Kidding.
on the abuse side, some people are just evil, I spent over 10k trying to defend myself from false claims, my ex girlfriend called the police on domestic abuse charges, the police report has her story changing and no bruises whatsoever, yet i was arrested and had to get a lawyer, they gave me a high charge and made a deal with me, they said instead of a year do 3 months, don’t worry jails are packed you’ll do 15 to 30 days, I told them, but I didn’t do anything. so I had to post bail, hire a lawyer and once it went to a pre eliminatory hearing it got dismissed. some people are just evil and will do a lotta damage to innocent people, now a days you are guilty until proven innocent.
Not on my iPhone. Not ever. I treat the federal government about the same as lottery ticket officials from the Ukraine when it comes to installing their “harmless” apps on my devices.
I is targeted to the wrong platform. Everyone knows that these predators live cheap solitary lives of desperation often in their mother’s basement: the perfect combo for Windows and Android users. Perhaps it is targeted at people who don’t tolerate such behaviour and hence the software was written for iOS users.
It is targeted . . . (sorry)
maybe you should move upstairs then.
Maybe you should stop insulting people.
Maybe you should stop being a self-righteous hypocrite.
Whether I am a hypocrite or not does not negate the validity of my statement.
And I’m not “self-righteous”. I merely tell someone who is being a poisonous little fuck, “Hey, you’re being a poisonous little fuck.”
hypocrisy |hiˈpäkrisē|
noun ( pl. hypocrisies )
the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.
ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French ypocrisie, via ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek hupokrisis ‘acting of a theatrical part,’ from hupokrinesthai ‘play a part, pretend,’ from hupo ‘under’ + krinein ‘decide, judge.’
The very simple logic seems to have escaped you — calling me a hypocrite in no way negates the validity of my statement. I could be a raving hypocrite, and you should still stop insulting people. It seems to be an extremely large part of what comes out of your brain.
Even in supporting your political stance, hannahjs referred to your “insufferable attitude”.
Other recent comments I like are:
– botvinnik is just a prick, plain and simple.
– botvinnik is a cancer on this forum
– your worthless, sputtering drivel
You seem to think you are the way, the truth and the light. You are not.
Vast numbers of people are not taken in by the games of the ultra-rich. Big deal. You present no insight, no structure of persuasion, no NEWS.
You seem to think your position as the #1 carrier of political wisdom somehow gives you permission to insult people. It does not.
– The importance of some political point does not excuse your putrid behavior.
– And this is a Mac news forum. Just about no-one here wants the politics, anyway. Go to a political forum and share all you want.
Either you want to actually want to attain something politically, in which case your behavior is unutterably stupid.
Or you think you have some right to “punish” those who don’t agree with your “light” — in which case you have what amounts to gross delusion and you are a merely a poisonous little thug.
the lady doth protest too much.
So, of course, you have no ACTUAL counter to what I’m saying. You think your most deadly insult – calling someone a woman or some part of a woman’s body – is all you need.
You merely further illustrate my point.
it’s a Shakespeare quote, you illiterate jackass. Methinks you should take up your desperate, phony sexist-baiting with Hamlet.
I know where it is from, you ignorant, presumptuous, arrogant little fuck.
The fact that you are using a line from Shakespeare in no way changes my point, i.e. you didn’t counter anything I said.
“these predators live cheap solitary lives of desperation often in their mother’s basement”
Is that a serious statement or some kind of sarcasm?
If it’s serious, you couldn’t be more mistaken — the actual situation is that sexual predators can be poor or rich, successful or not, religious or not, and from any culture.
Yeh, some are mommy’s basement dwellers with total loser lives. But others…. Have you never seen the newspaper stories quoting the friends and neighbors with, “But he was such a fine, upstanding member of the community”, “He was so friendly, such a nice, helpful neighbor”, “He was a great coach. All the kids loved him”?
In fact, the great majority of sexual predators are family members, friends of the family, and people in respectable, responsible positions of trust.
Thanks for clearing that up. I am wrong and have rightly been reminded of the facts.
And thanks for your acknowledgement.
(I knew, that unlike some around here, you’d consider with your grown-up brain, and make a grown-up response – whatever it might have been.)
You two sound like a couple of butt-buddies. Ain’t love grand!
heh.
And you sound like a petulant fourteen-year-old, with a pathetic putrid little mind and a big chip on his shoulder.
First, Android users are “Hee Haw” rednecks, now they are pedos? I hate Android more than the entire world hating America, but this is stupid talk. Is this some new insult to deliver someone who has different taste in electronic devices? No wonder the world hates us.
Electronic devises that are theft of innovative technology. I consider them like cheap knockoffs of Rolexes and Gucci handbags. They are essentially stealing from Apple and from America my homeland.
Can Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life. Being an artist and a forward thinkiner is rarely rewarded properly in this world as you aren’t fully acknowledged for your hard work, or your genious. Either no one notices you or they rip you off and copy you. Then in the case of android, pretend they are innovating and you are just imitating them and they are the true innovators. Android makes me sick and I’d love nothing more than every android phone on the planet instantly crumbled to dust.
For Clarification:
I think that the CONCEPT/GOAL of aiding in the capture of child sex criminal is a wonderful idea.
Now let’s talk about the nuts and bolts of the implementation and the practical and legal risks to phone users. Trusting the federal government has proven unwise in many instances. My concerns were of a constitutional nature. Awhile back, apps were found to be vacuuming information from a phone and relaying said information from the phone to a server for nefarious activities. Remember that these rogue applications were kicked out of the app store but never ruled illegal. If one voluntarily downloads an application authored by the federal government, it will reside on the inside of phone access security. Does this voluntary download constitute authority to proceed and vacuum? This includes your address book, shopping lists, … What would the courts make of data gathered in this manner? Does this situation imply voluntary disclosure of everything on the phone? “A vampire can only enter your house if they are invited.”
I keep a string of garlic hanging on my kitchen and I’ve never had a vampire in my home.
or a girl.
I would guess that silverhawk1 is old enough to have women in his home. On the other hand, perhaps you have girls over and need to be reported. Just let me download that app . . .
So it worked! 🙂
http://xkcd.com/552/
No one is forced to download this app so paranoid folks can skip it.
However, If it saves one kid from a demented pervert and a life of trapped hell (or a soon-to-be death), it’s worth downloading. I personally don’t care what they snoop on me, I am guilty of nothing they’d even find remotely interesting.
Shame on MDN for linking to the Rev Sun Young Moon-owned Washington Times as a source. They are so batshit right-wing that even Faux Noise is scared of their Taliban-esque, racist readers.
Don’t tell me. Let me guess: Those “racist readers” are “racist” because……(drum roll, please)……their world view is not in perfect alignment with your own.
And those awful, awful people are “Taliban-esque” because……(drum roll, please)……again, their world view is not in perfect alignment with your own.
And you’re in a position to “shame” anyone because — hmm, let’s see — you have nothing at all in your life to be ashamed of?
Methinks that when left-wingers like yourself publicly perform the moral preening dance of self-congratulation, it’s probably the case that they have plenty to be ashamed of, hence the overcompensating for the sake of some cheap grace: Look at me! Look at me! I’m against racism! Aren’t I terrific!?
Nevertheless, that “Faux Noise” formulation was just really really impressive. It betrays the intellectual maturity of a self-appointed 13 year old hall monitor.
Have a nice day!
Do you have any evidence to back this up? I hate extremists, but I hate blatant liars even more.
It’s about time the federal government took a stand on promoting vigilante justice. With all these budget cuts, there aren’t enough resources in the crime-fighting and justice systems to deal with crime in a just and even-handed way. Let’s turn it over to the citizens.
“Well, he LOOKED like that guy on my phone, so of course I had the right to question him. When he told me to leave him alone, I was sure I had the right guy. So me and my buddies tied him to the bumper of the truck and took him for a ride around the neighborhood. It’s not our fault he was the wrong person. Maybe he’s a muslim. Is there an app for that?”
yes, “WordsWithJihadists”, 3.99 USD.
…they always play qoph or qintar or qat.
Is anybody in Washington D.C. paying attention to what our government is doing?
The business of the government spying on us has worked out so well that they are now asking us to spy on each other.
Nazi Germany… Meet the United States of America. 😐
No pity! Rather loosing the “privacy”, then giving those any chance to go on.
F = Fear
U = Uncertainty
D = Doubt
These are favorite methods of people manipulation, equivalent to the cattle prod.
We had two young children abducted and murdered in rural america in 2012. The police haven’t a clue about who did it. It was in the local news for months.I am not certain this app would have helped. 2 points… our prisons are full of drug related criminals and our police are spending all their time on drug related cases. Rather than an app maybe the police need a new focus. Missing and exploited children is a real issue but this country is only an empire crumbiling away.
Typical America… This wont protect anything. Politicians that needs to look busy caring and doing stuff for its own sake to stay relevant. This is a solution that is looking for a problem.