I agree, but you do also have to remember that a lot of those specific situations I’d be dealing with from the dispatch end of things could very often be life-or-death for the people involved. More accurate information from us could mean getting the right amount of help to the right places faster and using it more effectively, which means lives saved.
It’s very much a double edged sword, it’s technology that could save lives, and it could be used to wrongfully deprive people of their lives and liberty. I’ve outlined some of the ways I would use it to help save lives, I’m not trying to make a judgement about whether or not that good it could do outweighs the harm it could do by being abused. It might, it might not, it’s not exactly clear-cut how the value of a handful of human lives stacks up against the rights and freedoms of the many, and in either case we’re dealing with largely hypothetical situations. My main point is to lament that these capabilities would almost certainly be abused and that because of that we may not get to use them to save lives when we otherwise could have.
I’m imagining a situation where the caller does not want it to be known that they have called emergency. Hostage situations, domestic violence, home intrusions… Last thing you want when you’re hiding in a dark cupboard from an armed stalker is your phone to start blasting at full volume and flashing lights because a well intentioned operator wanted to see through the camera.
That’s the sort of discretion we already have to use though, we have no control over what volume their ringtone may be at when we call back now, we don’t call text to 911 callers unless they confirm it’s safe for them to talk, etc.
It’s a dangerous road to walk for something that would be ‘kind of nice’ in very specific situations.
I agree, but you do also have to remember that a lot of those specific situations I’d be dealing with from the dispatch end of things could very often be life-or-death for the people involved. More accurate information from us could mean getting the right amount of help to the right places faster and using it more effectively, which means lives saved.
It’s very much a double edged sword, it’s technology that could save lives, and it could be used to wrongfully deprive people of their lives and liberty. I’ve outlined some of the ways I would use it to help save lives, I’m not trying to make a judgement about whether or not that good it could do outweighs the harm it could do by being abused. It might, it might not, it’s not exactly clear-cut how the value of a handful of human lives stacks up against the rights and freedoms of the many, and in either case we’re dealing with largely hypothetical situations. My main point is to lament that these capabilities would almost certainly be abused and that because of that we may not get to use them to save lives when we otherwise could have.
I’m imagining a situation where the caller does not want it to be known that they have called emergency. Hostage situations, domestic violence, home intrusions… Last thing you want when you’re hiding in a dark cupboard from an armed stalker is your phone to start blasting at full volume and flashing lights because a well intentioned operator wanted to see through the camera.
That’s the sort of discretion we already have to use though, we have no control over what volume their ringtone may be at when we call back now, we don’t call text to 911 callers unless they confirm it’s safe for them to talk, etc.