Security robots are at Philly Lowe’s stores. Some have nicknamed them snitchBOTs | Hacker News Reader

Security robots are at Philly Lowe’s stores. Some have nicknamed them snitchBOTs

inquirer.com

13 pointspilingual11 comments

>“We’re looking for known threats, people to whom you’ve issued criminal trespass warnings, terminated employees, or domestic abusers,”

The last one seems like an odd inclusion. Since when does Lowes scrutinize potential customers based on a specific type of criminal record?

because they are the "daddy" now .. wait until you find out that you cannot request records held in private, on you. Add to that the low-cost and culture of incrimination ... and .. once you get on that list, for any reason.. oh well

Maybe domestic abuse records are more readily available?

Because people beating other people in your store looks bad and other customers don't like it. Ruins the ambiance.

I presume the last one is for ensuring the safety of staff. Domestic abusers can use work schedules to stalk and harass their former partners.

> Knightscope retains ownership of its robots, and the client pays about $6 to $9 per hour for an annual contract, Stephens said.

That’s cheaper than I would’ve expected - wonder whether they get hit with a bunch of additional fees beyond simply possessing the robot - operation, gathering and storing surveillance data, auditing data, even just interconnecting all the systems with whatever they’ve already got at Lowe’s

Good. The shoplifting epidemic is ridiculous and erodes the social contract.

It seems more reasonable to think "The social contract is erroding and so more shoplifting is happening"

It's not like people consider antisocial behavior by default unless they are desperate and driven to by a society that's failing them and failing to give them hope that they have other options to survive.

The article mentions hitchBOT, surprised these haven't all met the same fate. hitchBOT wasn't out to get anyone and got destroyed.

robot cop is the logical conclusion

You mean something that can autonomously issue a trafic citation to an autonomous vehicle?

Or maybe detect non-courteous behavior by man or machine using mandatory OTA real-time data collection?

Or something that can retrospectively charge you with a violation based on your past driving history as recorded by your own vehicle as you go?

Oh wait . . .

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