There is an article in the June 27 Los Angles Times about a man accused of attacking an ex-girlfriend. The police and the courts eventually found that he was factually innocent-not only didn’t he do it, he could not have done it. However the victim continues to claim that she was assaulted by Mr. Gonsalez. To the point that the courts have taken away her son and awarded custody to the son’s father-Mr. Gonsalez. A very strange case. I am sure there will be much discussion of this case among estranged parents and lawyers.
One thing that interests me is the small things that got Mr. Gonsalez his freedom. He skipped breakfast that morning and had to buy a bagel. He needed cash for the bagel and he went to a bank. The police got the surveillence tape proving he was in the bank at a certain time, making it impossible for him to have committed the crime. Read the article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-accused-20110626,0,6630763,full.story
One interesting consequence is the great care Mr. Gonsalez takes to document his whereabouts. Whenever he passes a security camera he pauses and makes sure the camera gets a good look at him. He uses his credit card for every possible purchase and always carefully signs. He keeps all receipts. He fears nighttime because that is the one time he is alone and can’t prove where he is.
Everyone worries about the loss of privacy. Here is a case where for his own piece of mind a person works at giving up his privacy. For his own safety. How do you think this will play out in the future? Will the police and procescutors begin to believe in someone’s guilt because there is no record of a person at a certain time? I wonder if phones will start tracking one’s location and documenting the information for legal proof of location. People worry about privacy. Will people who succeed in protecting their privacy suffer as a result?
thanks. I hadn’t seen the thread. I just saw the article this evening.
As you pointed out, I am also interested in the behavior changes people and society will undergo as the ability to shed privacy in our modern world implies the obligation to do so.
I thought that was sad. It’s debatable how much privacy he’s really giving up. A lot of us are regularly filmed by security cameras in stores and pay for things with cards that leave a record; he just does it more often and makes sure the cameras see him.
I think Gonzalez was the victim of a horrible and unusual scheme by his ex. I don’t think it’s something the rest of us need to worry about on a daily basis- granted that he didn’t think so either until this happened.
Uh, they already do. That’s why you give an alibi if you’re accused of a crime and why they check your alibi. If you have no alibi or the one you give them doesn’t check out, you may have a problem.
Some phones already do that, but it’s for data collection reasons and to find nearby phone towers and things, not for legal reasons. Companies will turn over data to the police if they’re asked, but they’re not going to start collecting data at their own expense just because the police might ask for it.
I think society’s ideas about privacy are changing a great deal as mobile web technology and social networking become common, and that’s going to take a long time to play out. I don’t think the Gonzalez case is going to change things for a lot of people. The strange thing about the case is how much difficulty his ex went to to frame him, not how he was exonerated. Electronic data was one reason he got off, but there were also a bunhc of eyewitnesses who saw him around the time he was supposedly committing the crime and the drive time between the airport and his ex’s house was also a problem. That seems like pretty straightforward policework. I think people are exonerted this way all the time.
I agree with your comments, while this incident occured because of the actions of Ms. West, I think the effects, over time, might be more along the actions Mr. Gonzalez took. Whether it is the best or most effective response is questionable, I suspect that the fact that privacy is not always a good thing will change people’s actions in the future.
For instance, will there be a tracking app developed? One where I can install it on my phone to prove where I have been? I am aware of the wi-fi logging that several phones perform for the companies. I am thinking of an app that does similar tracking but uploads it to a secure server. Whether the police would ever trust it is debatable, the question is would people ever want to use it?
I assume you mean he’s been doing this after the fact, not that he was doing things the day he was accused of raping her. Anyways, I made some comments in the other thread, so I’ll just touch on the sleeping thing. I think in his situation, if I wanted to try to help prove my whereabouts at night, perhaps a surveillance system or webcams setup around the house. I’m thinking that whenever possible having my cell phone (with the time and date) displayed in view of them, making sure the cameras get glimpses of the news, internet and having at least one (probably the one that watches me sleep) has a view of both me and outside so it could see people as well as weather. Now, no one would have to know I’m doing this, and it would be a last resort, but should I need it, it seems like it might help my case.
For a random person to do this it might actually (I’d think) hurt their case, but I think in his situation he’s got a valid reason for doing it and I think anyone would understand.
I used to do a lot of hand-wringing about privacy issues around CCTV in public spaces when I was in my twenties, fretting about the possibility that we might go the way of Britain and allow CCTV cameras in outdoors, and even resenting security video in commercial establishments on principle. “I don’t want to be treated like a criminal!”
Meh. Now that I am older, the “surveillance state” doesn’t sound so sinister - probably because I don’t worry anymore about being sent to a concentration camp for having an occasional puff or something like that.
What does “success in protecting privacy” mean, in this context? Making sure you’re not identifiable on any public surveillance and leaving no electronic trace? (ie, avoid all cameras or obscure your identity in their presence, use cash for everything, etc.) Well, sure - lots of stupid and irrational behaviour can have potentially negative consequences.
It’s hard to imagine a credible scenario where appearing on CCTV is liable to have serious negative consequences for an honest person. (And the “honest person” qualifier doesn’t mean that the only safety is in ABSOLUTE CONFORMITY.) I walked past the CCTV in my dealer’s apartment building once a week for decades (right up until the precise threshold of the undefined transition point from “the remote past” as specified in the SDMB’s user agreement with regard to discussing illegal activity) without giving it a thought. I know that nobody is going to be looking at that video and trying to work out the identities of people coming and going, unless someone has some cause to complain.
So long as I can resist the urge to shit in the elevator, discharge the fire extinguisher, steal the art off the walls, or otherwise create a disturbance for the law-abiding residents of the building, nobody is going to be interested in my appearance there. That’s fine with me.
I think at that point, he’d be spending a significant amount of money (although he’s probably doing pretty well for himself) and almost certainly crossing into the land of very compulsive behavior. It’s too bad his ex won’t be going to jail, but she’d have to meet a very high threshhold to bring any kind of credible accusation against him in the future.
As another data point, remember that one of the Duke lacrosse players accused of rape had his claim of innocence much strengthened when it emerged that there was security camera footage of him at an ATM far from the alleged crime scene at a critical time.
I wonder if a browser history could be used to establish where you were? I notice mine time stamps every page I visit. I suppose someone could change the time on the computer, but wouldn’t the sites you visit also have a record in many cases? I also have a electronic pass on my car that would record every time I use a toll road.
Actually I have done what Mr. Gonzalez is reported to do to some small extent during the last decades - when I was traveling without witnesses I paid with plastic rather than cash (I usually use cash), and I often purchase rail tickets online rather than with cash - with the thought at the back of my mind to leave a data trail, just in case. I am not afraid of a specific person (specifically, I don’t have any exes, psycho or otherwise), but the thought of having no alibi, sometimes for days on end when I was single, often crossed my mind.
Just last week, someone caused $700 damage to my vehicle in the Walmart parking lot. I asked the cops for a video review of the hit and run because Walmart does video monitor the parking lot , but I get the feeling they won’t bother.