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Comment by RandomBK | Hacker News Reader

All the more reason to get some oversight into the system. The CDC reported 24.5K homocides in 2020 [0], so one company's EDRs represented 6X this figure. I find it difficult to believe that each and every one of those 164K represented a true life/death scenario that would necessitate a breach of privacy by a government agent without any due process.

[0] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm

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1.2 million suicide attempts, 46k successful.

Counting homicides only gives you the "death" part of "life or death".

Do you honestly believe the number of emergency data requests aimed at preventing a suicide is more than a 2 digit number out of those requests? Nobody and I mean nobody in government gives one damn about a person in crisis unless that person is literally standing in the high place about to jump in which case they will surely show up in time to file whatever paperwork is required to initiate the cleanup.

"Emergency" does not imply "life or death".

I was basing it on this line in the article:

> any police jurisdiction can use an EDR to request immediate access to data without a warrant, provided the law enforcement entity attests that the request is related to an urgent matter of life and death.

You shouldn't read so much into a single sentence like that when it's so broad. That's just a summary they wrote offhand. It's not an absolute statement about every jurisdiction or company. Google around and you'll find there's more to it than that. Like "serious physical injury" for example.

> You shouldn't read so much into a single sentence

I disagree. That sentence is unambiguous. Either that sentence is blatantly incorrect or an EDR does imply life or death. The two possibilities are mutually exclusive.

I mean, you can call it "blatantly incorrect" if you wish. I'm just trying to discuss the facts, not defend the author.

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