Google Home called 911 and the operator heard a confrontation in the background
I wasn't aware that it was legal for any unattended device to directly call 911 by itself in any USA jurisdiction. That's why alarm companies have human operators that discern whether local 911 is to be called.
Arguably, the Home interpreting "call the sheriffs" to mean "call 911" isn't really "unattended" or "calling by itself". It's unintended in this particular case, but a person arguably initiated the call. Just like the voice dial on your phone.
This is a matter of getting the police to take it seriously and actually respond, and mitigating nuisance fees for calling with too many false alarms. The laws don't (generally) prohibit calling the police without a human in the loop, you'll just get better results if you have a human in the loop.
It's actually soon to be mandatory for new cars to automatically dial 911 using their onboard GSM when they detect a collision.
While I'm happy this was a (reasonably) positive outcome, my concern is that a family is watching an action movie or police procedural, a character on TV says "call 911" or "call the cops!", and suddenly a SWAT team is breaking down the door and pointing guns at everyone, maybe even shooting the family dog who rightfully barks at the intruders.
Yeah... I'm curious what part of the conversation triggered the Google Home action because, typically, there's a trigger word/phrase or something that has to be used. If the trigger phrase is the standard "OK Google" or something along those lines, then I wonder what was said before "Call the sheriff" that was incorrectly interpreted as "OK Google" (or whatever the actual phrase was).
It's my understanding that you can also say "Hey Google" to issue commands, and it's possible in this case that in the heated discussion the device heard "Hey did you..." as "Hey Google". I've activated my iPhone's Siri assistant before by saying "Hey Sir" to a boss who walked into my office.
It's also a notorious blind spot for law enforcement – even when restraining orders are issued, they're nearly unenforceable, and once the aggressor is in your house you're a sitting duck.
Ambient audio-UI devices could be the biggest technological break ever in monitoring for the presence and emotional state of the subject of a restraining order. It's not obvious like a security camera or alarm system, and opt-in to a monitoring app would be invisible.
Most of those statistics are total trash created by and for the domestic violence industry. It's just like the drug crime industry. Most of it is arresting people who shouldn't be. In many ways it's worse because innocent people are constantly arrested, and a man is assumed to be guilty until proven innocent in court. Either they are arrested on hearsay (if girl says it man will go to jail period), or they are arrested for something small that doesn't need police intervention (such as causing a scratch, or grabbing the spouse by their arm. Literally anything that causes any pain whatsoever is domestic violence.
Cops prefer arresting people who aren't real criminals because they are not going to put the cops life at risk.
When it comes to true real batterers, calling the police may actually lead to more death due to revenge killings. The real batterers are out of control and the wisest thing to do is just get away.
This site has some eye opening insight into the situation.
"causing a scratch" or "grabbing an arm" is the definition of battery. I'm not surprised that someone who asserts that the police shouldn't enforce the law gets downvoted, especially when we're talking about an emotional subject like domestic violence.
>I'm not surprised that someone who asserts that the police shouldn't enforce the law gets downvoted
Virtually nobody on HN thinks federal marijuana laws, (and i would guess immigration laws) should be enforced. You have a double standard here on "enforcing the law". If you think cops need to be called over a scratch or being grabbed, you have either lost your mind, or you just don't understand what getting the cops involved means. It's like arresting somebody and telling them they can't drive for 30 days and need to go on probation because they sped 5mph above the speed limit, and if they speed again, they won't be able to drive again for the rest of their life. What's more in some states, the penalties stack. So if you scratch 2 people in the course of your entire life, you are now a felon will spend a year behind bars and can't vote. For a scratch. This is beyond absurd. Also if you get one deffered adjudication you can never touch a gun again, not even 20 years later to go hunting. It doesn't matter if your spouse was just telling you they really enjoyed having sex with your boss - if you even cause a scratch you are a criminal, will be thrown out of your own house. If your spouse divorces you, you will lose custody because you are a "batterer".
Domestic violence issues are mainly propaganda and fear-mongering. They use it for political purposes, just like they use terrorism. When cops get involved, like I said before, it often leads to murders because the real batters are unstable people and calling the police just makes them angry and likely to murder.
Like most people, I view laws about violent attacks different from laws about drug consumption that doesn't hurt anyone. I totally think the cops should be called when someone is assaulted.
First, thank you for acknowledging that your previous point was moot, and that you do have a double standard. Now I will show why calling the police any time any small assault has occurred is the wrong choice.
If you think that you need to call the cops over somebody grabbing your arm, you are far worse than the guy who grabbed your arm. Instead of turning the other cheek and forgiving, as the guy who scratched you should have done, you do the same thing: revenge. How are you any different? Simply outsourcing your revenge to the cops makes you a better person? No, you are the same - you feel wronged and that you have the right to retaliate, only your retaliation is far more severe.
If somebody is truly posing a threat to life or limb, then calling cops may be appropriate. But in most small cases, calling the police is both foolish and wrong.
An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind. Especially in families, forgiveness and love and overcoming evil with good are much better choices.
Correction: ABC News has amended and editor’s note to its story clarifying that the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department did not specify the type of smart device that called them to the home. An earlier version of this post cited ABC’s story and claimed a Google Home called police.
They were house sitting. It's not a stretch to think that homeowners had other smart devices to listen in and see what's going on remotely, and call police if necessary. Nest cam possibly? It works with Google Home.
Also, there was a daughter (no mention of age) who may have been able to trigger an alarm system or call herself (though a traditional call negates the "smart device" claim by the sheriff's department).
I'm concerned if smart devices will start intervening with human arguments. When they're necessary, it's indeed a lifesaver. When they're not it can really break up otherwise healthy homes and cause a lot of stress.
17 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 51.9 ms ] threadIt's actually soon to be mandatory for new cars to automatically dial 911 using their onboard GSM when they detect a collision.
http://ncadv.org/learn-more/statistics
It's also a notorious blind spot for law enforcement – even when restraining orders are issued, they're nearly unenforceable, and once the aggressor is in your house you're a sitting duck.
Ambient audio-UI devices could be the biggest technological break ever in monitoring for the presence and emotional state of the subject of a restraining order. It's not obvious like a security camera or alarm system, and opt-in to a monitoring app would be invisible.
Cops prefer arresting people who aren't real criminals because they are not going to put the cops life at risk.
When it comes to true real batterers, calling the police may actually lead to more death due to revenge killings. The real batterers are out of control and the wisest thing to do is just get away.
This site has some eye opening insight into the situation.
http://www.dvmen.org/dv-10.htm
Another:
http://www.pseagles.com/Feminist_Abuse_of_Domestic_Violence_...
Virtually nobody on HN thinks federal marijuana laws, (and i would guess immigration laws) should be enforced. You have a double standard here on "enforcing the law". If you think cops need to be called over a scratch or being grabbed, you have either lost your mind, or you just don't understand what getting the cops involved means. It's like arresting somebody and telling them they can't drive for 30 days and need to go on probation because they sped 5mph above the speed limit, and if they speed again, they won't be able to drive again for the rest of their life. What's more in some states, the penalties stack. So if you scratch 2 people in the course of your entire life, you are now a felon will spend a year behind bars and can't vote. For a scratch. This is beyond absurd. Also if you get one deffered adjudication you can never touch a gun again, not even 20 years later to go hunting. It doesn't matter if your spouse was just telling you they really enjoyed having sex with your boss - if you even cause a scratch you are a criminal, will be thrown out of your own house. If your spouse divorces you, you will lose custody because you are a "batterer".
Domestic violence issues are mainly propaganda and fear-mongering. They use it for political purposes, just like they use terrorism. When cops get involved, like I said before, it often leads to murders because the real batters are unstable people and calling the police just makes them angry and likely to murder.
If you think that you need to call the cops over somebody grabbing your arm, you are far worse than the guy who grabbed your arm. Instead of turning the other cheek and forgiving, as the guy who scratched you should have done, you do the same thing: revenge. How are you any different? Simply outsourcing your revenge to the cops makes you a better person? No, you are the same - you feel wronged and that you have the right to retaliate, only your retaliation is far more severe.
If somebody is truly posing a threat to life or limb, then calling cops may be appropriate. But in most small cases, calling the police is both foolish and wrong.
An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind. Especially in families, forgiveness and love and overcoming evil with good are much better choices.
They were house sitting. It's not a stretch to think that homeowners had other smart devices to listen in and see what's going on remotely, and call police if necessary. Nest cam possibly? It works with Google Home.
Also, there was a daughter (no mention of age) who may have been able to trigger an alarm system or call herself (though a traditional call negates the "smart device" claim by the sheriff's department).
I'm concerned if smart devices will start intervening with human arguments. When they're necessary, it's indeed a lifesaver. When they're not it can really break up otherwise healthy homes and cause a lot of stress.