A Japanese Tech Company Claims It Can Predict Crimes Before They Happen

[HardkorSB]

If it doesn't involve 3 people perpetually laying in liquid, it's not worth the trouble.

 

[Veylon]

If my understanding of the article is correct, that means it doesn't really "predict" crime, but more like pinpoints areas where crime has a high probability of occurring? I'd imagine most police already know where the crime hot-spots are in the cities they serve in. Again, though, I could be incorrectly understanding that breakdown of what exactly this system does.

It's effectively the same thing as a cop's - or any resident's - instincts. It might well be helpful for outsiders, though, who are more likely to impressed by a colorful computer map than some grizzled, accented, beefy guy growling about how the dockyard district is always bad this time of the week.

 

[Clankenbeard]

On the first picture, there is an alphabetical list of objects that presumably can be toggled to show on the map. And on that list, is the word 'Poo'.

I copied the image and zoomed in. It says "POD". So, that's clearly where whales and dolphins are located in Washington DC. Or it is storage pods/cargo containers (since it is in a list with Buildings and Trailers).

The grid spacing seems too chunky for the claimed 200-square meter blocks. That's a square 14.14m on a side (or 46.4 ft on a side). This seems incredibly precise. Perhaps it should be 200 meters squared. Now we're at an 1/8 of a mile on a side.

I have from time to time used the Twitter app on my phone to "See Tweets Near You". These are people that I obviously don't know and the locations of their tweets. They say some of the dumbest things as mass communication to their family and friends. I can actually imagine a computer system actively scanning for violent-tagged text in tweets. You get the location. You get the "Im gunna go shoot XYZ n da face aftR I finis dis luvly spinech keesh ". This is something cops are not actively monitoring to detect future crimes. So, I'll take my initial "bullshit" reaction down a couple pegs to a "Hmmmm...maybe there's something here."

 

[martyrdrebel27]

are we sure this isn't just viral marketing for Watch_Dogs 2.0? ctOs does this exact same thing. somebody owes somebody some royalties.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I expected minority report, I got minority report.

Good job Escapist.

[sub]I don't want to get arrested for thought-crimes...[/sub]

 

[TristanBelmont]

Jonathan Nolan to sue the Japanese government for ripping off Person of Interest

 

[Steppin Razor]

It's certainly an interesting piece of technology and if it functions to any degree of accuracy you can expect it to become standard around the world. It is amusing that a piece of tech designed to predict that crime may occur in an area is being criticised as though it could unfairly target innocent people. All it will do is tell cops where crime has a statistically high chance of occurring, what happens afterwards reflects on the cops involved not the technology.

I expected minority report, I got minority report.

Good job Escapist.

[sub]I don't want to get arrested for thought-crimes...[/sub]

You are the only person ever I would arrest for thought-crimes. It's what you get for being you.

 

[Caffiene]

2) What if the system unfairly profiles and targets innocent people as criminals?"

If the system profiles and targets a person as "a 200 square meter potential crime scene" I think it has bigger problems than unfairness.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Well, now I need to go rewatch Person of Interest. This is pretty much the plot of that excellent series, with the exception being the "where" and not the "who".

Or, more accurately, this sort of thing WAS the plot of Person of Interest for the first season before they pretty much dropped the show's infinite potential premise almost entirely for just another cliched "Arc Villains" format.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Given the sorry state of the Japanese justice system, I'd be terribly wary of being fingered as a criminal AT ALL, even within a 200 meter zone of probability.