Comment by giraffe_lady

3 years ago

It's literally a checkbox a cop clicks when they request data with no vetting that it actually is an emergency or consequences if it is not.

Oh, have you seen the forms the cops fill out to do the data request? Or are you theorizing?

  • It's up to the police to show they have probable cause before they collect data. That's what warrants and judges are for. Anything collected without a warrant should be de-facto considered suspect. Why would you give agents of the government the benefit of the doubt here?

    • Exigent circumstances is a real thing and goes back a long time. If a cop sees someone being murdered through a window, we obviously don't want them booking a call with the DA and local judge before helping.

      That being said, that power is obviously easily misused without checks and limits.

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  • A close family member works in law enforcement, I have seen the form. Though for facebook not google. They could have changed it or google's could be different but I have no particular reason to think it's materially different. It's up to the cop to decide what constitutes an emergency and there is no verification or consequences beyond that. It's literally a checkbox.