Person of Interest - The Machine caught the boston bombers

[RabbieBurns]

So i was watching Person of Interest last night, and at the same time reading this article BBC News - Boston Marathon bombings: How notorious bombers got caught and I couldnt help but draw comparisons.

 

The fact they 'crowdsourced' everyones photos and videos and cctv to catch them, is only one step away from the 'fiction' of a computer program that does all that in real time!

[SYNACK]

The main fiction being that the government is acting in the best interests of it's citizens rather than itself. PoI is a great show though.

[Gibson335]

Love the show, and whilst it's a stretch, it's not so outlandish.

[Pyroman]

I smell another conspiracy here, another incident where a "training exercise" was happening at exactly the same time and place, the constant U-turns about people being arrested then not being arrested, a saudi suspect to person of interest to a saudi who?? It's very fishy

[sparkeh]

I smell another conspiracy here, another incident where a "training exercise" was happening at exactly the same time and place, the constant U-turns about people being arrested then not being arrested, a saudi suspect to person of interest to a saudi who?? It's very fishy

Well, if you are interested in conspiracy theories, here's what they are saying: Boston Bombings Conspiracy Theories: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know | HEAVY

[Pyroman]

Well, if you are interested in conspiracy theories, here's what they are saying: Boston Bombings Conspiracy Theories: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know | HEAVY

 

Blocked at work, i'll have a look when i get in

[synaesthesia]

Yeah, it's proven to work well. For instance, the so called "crowdsourcing" where 4chan/reddit were involved got 2 innocent people in serious trouble - not only with the police but randoms who believed they were involved and tried all sorts of nasty things...

[CAM]

Boston is proof that the public cannot be relied upon. The guy on the roof, no link. The arab guy in the park on his knees, no link. Could intercept SkyDrive and Google+ uploads though...

[localzuk]

The idea of crowd sourcing is not to listen to the conspiracies of the nuts online, but to gather all the raw photos and videos.

 

Some of the nutty stuff may have some use, but it is by no means sensible for a law enforcement agency to use it with any weight.

 

The bombers here were mainly caught due to one of the victims identifying one of them, and the police then looking at videos and photos.

[CAM]

The problem comes from what the nutty ones do. Like chasing after guys who were falsely identified and passing the information on to even nuttier vigilantes.

[TechMonkey]

I smell another conspiracy here, another incident where a "training exercise" was happening at exactly the same time and place, the constant U-turns about people being arrested then not being arrested, a saudi suspect to person of interest to a saudi who?? It's very fishy

 

The problem with that was the media more than anything. In there constant need to report something, anything, they were resorting to grabbing any little bit and stating almost as fact. They were trawling the Reddit threads and reporting any little lead someone posted as a interesting thought or possibility. The Saudi suspect was never involved and Boston PD had to spend time announcing that they had NO suspect in custody to counter the NY Times and FOX broadcasting blatant lies.

 

Don't know if you watched Newsroom but that has a great section where they are working on the Gabrielle Gifford shooting. Other stations started reporting that she was confirmed dead, one of the management of the newsroom being followed demands they declare it too as they are losing viewers every minute they hold off. Suddenly they get a call to say she is alive and out of surgery. The other news stations had jumped the gun just to get the scoop.

[sted]

The problem with that was the media more than anything. In there constant need to report something, anything, they were resorting to grabbing any little bit and stating almost as fact. They were trawling the Reddit threads and reporting any little lead someone posted as a interesting thought or possibility. The Saudi suspect was never involved and Boston PD had to spend time announcing that they had NO suspect in custody to counter the NY Times and FOX broadcasting blatant lies.

 

Don't know if you watched Newsroom but that has a great section where they are working on the Gabrielle Gifford shooting. Other stations started reporting that she was confirmed dead, one of the management of the newsroom being followed demands they declare it too as they are losing viewers every minute they hold off. Suddenly they get a call to say she is alive and out of surgery. The other news stations had jumped the gun just to get the scoop.

 

maybe 24h news stations need a 10 minute delay so they have chance to check what goes out on air?