In San Francisco, autonomous crime-fighting robots that are used to patrol parking lots, sports arenas, and tech company campuses are now being deployed to keep away homeless people. [...]
Last week, the City of San Francisco ordered the SF SPCA to keep its robot off the streets or be fined up to $1,000 per day for operating on sidewalks without a permit [...]
— Business Insider
When you're in Silicon Valley, everything looks like a tech solution. The same logic has been increasingly applied to San Francisco's overwhelming homelessness crisis where a growing legion of security robots — armed with lasers, sensors, cameras, and GPS — have been autonomously patrolling parking lots, campuses, and now also public sidewalks to deter houseless neighbors from setting up tent camps.
One local non-profit recently drew the ire of the City of San Francisco though for operating their security robot "in the public right-of-way without a proper approval."
Attempts of incapacitating and attacking the SPCA robot have been reported, including feces of unknown origin smeared on it.
Here it is in action pic.twitter.com/nSBQUmKwk1
— Sam Dodge (@samueldodge) December 9, 2017
7 Comments
I like animals more than humans, but this is ridiculous. Why can't they let squatters hang out in front of what is an ANIMAL SHELTER?
At first I thought this was an onion article.
There was an Onion article a bit like that, in "Our Dumb Century"
The inspiration
First technology made rents unaffaordable for most normal people then they use it to fight poor people. This is not progress. This in inhuman.
a robot that looks like an ICBM warhead
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