Mexican surveillance company Grupo Seguritech watches the U.S. border (restofworld.org)

43 points by classichasclass 2 days ago

24 comments:

by Cider9986 an hour ago

>Hey, at least in Mexico surveillance tech people might wake up to their family chopped to pieces. One can hope, anyway.

I don't think this is a good thing. The crime is detrimental to innocent people, and although mass surveillance should not be the answer, it can only be fought through democratic processes.

I am curious what Mexico should do long term to reduce crime. The U.S. used to have a bigger problem with organized crime, but it has been subdued before mass surveillance was an option.

by deepsun an hour ago

I don't think crime can always be fought through democratic processes. What if the whole country lives on heroin exports (Afghanistan)? Any "processes" are doomed to fail, as populace would vote to feed their families.

by mschuster91 11 minutes ago

> What if the whole country lives on heroin exports (Afghanistan)?

Invade and, this time, provide a way for the population to earn a honest living. "Let them eat cake" just doesn't work out.

by consumer451 an hour ago

> I am curious what Mexico should do long term to reduce crime.

I would imagine that the #1 priority might be to shut down the "Iron River."

The Iron River is the limitless supply of firearms from the USA to Mexican cartels. It is very well documented, and yet we rarely hear about it.

by 15155 38 minutes ago

"Iron River" - you're joking, right?

These cartels can:

- effectuate mass synthesis of illicit substances in commercial laboratories

- handle massive intercontinental logistics

- build semi-submersible boats

- hire and kidnap radio engineers to help with communications and electronic warfare

but gee, they just can't figure out how to buy a machine shop and hire or kidnap talent to make 100-year-old firearm designs - that's just too much for them?

by estearum 23 minutes ago

Uhhh why would they do that when they can just buy them for super cheap at industrial scale from the US?

And yes the solution to things like organized crime is always just a continuous chipping away and adding friction where you can.

Not giving them massive amounts of cheap, high quality firearms seems like a meaningful goal.

by 15155 18 minutes ago

This is a popular idea amongst American liberals who rejoice at any possible means to eliminate/curb/add friction to lawful firearms ownership and manufacturing.

Where are they buying firearms in America at an "industrial scale?" An AR-15 receiver can be turned out in tens of minutes on a fast VMC - good luck stopping this.

by consumer451 15 minutes ago
by 15155 14 minutes ago

Yep, just keep spamming these links. I'll keep milling, good luck with your agenda.

by consumer451 12 minutes ago

Yes, showing the preponderance of evidence against your easily disproven argument is actually "my agenda." Great job on calling that out.

by 15155 11 minutes ago

It's not "disproven" - when an organization can buy a $30k machine and crank out high-quality firearms all day long, you can't do anything to stop it.

by consumer451 9 minutes ago

All you have done is shown that you have no idea how difficult and time consuming machining is, vs. mass production.

by 15155 7 minutes ago

I know for a fact that mass methamphetamine and fentanyl synthesis is more technically-difficult, more time consuming, and more capital-intensive than mass-manufacture of firearms - but good luck pushing your "Iron River" narrative lmao.

by ohhman11 an hour ago

>The crime is detrimental to innocent people, and although mass surveillance should not be the answer, it can only be fought through democratic processes.

Mass surveillance is detrimental to innocent people and to democratic processes.

Anyone deliberately facilitating that certainly deserves the worst fate imaginable. These are tools tailor-made to destroy democracies, we should treat people behind them like we treat ISIS.

by pixl97 an hour ago

Yep once the system is set up, no matter how good its intentions, the government will get a group of bad people who then use said monitoring system to entrench their power.

by peyton an hour ago

The article references “public panic buttons” and how

> There is active participation by the citizenry, where they connect their private security devices to the command centers run by the state

You don’t really believe anybody using a “public panic button” or hooking up their own alarm system to law enforcement deserves the worst fate imaginable. That’s a little extreme.

What are we even trying to accomplish here? It sounds like individuals in parts of Mexico are trying to protect themselves.

There has to be some compromise between ideals and reality. If you reflexively tell people “you can’t help the cops for the sake of democracy,” they’re gonna throw out the democracy part and keep the cops part.

Maybe a short stint in jail in the case of misconduct, but the worst fate imaginable? Chopped up in a suitcase?

by ohhman11 40 minutes ago

That's not even close to their main product, who cares?

You went from "license plate readers, stationary cameras, and panic buttons abound" in the article to "panic buttons", feels a bit dishonest.

by next_xibalba 36 minutes ago

> Anyone deliberately facilitating that certainly deserves the worst fate imaginable. These are tools tailor-made to destroy democracies, we should treat people behind them like we treat ISIS.

Just so you know, I and many people like me will automatically align with whoever opposes you due to this rhetoric. Whatever it takes to ensure you and those who agree with you never, ever get any foothold in the discourse, let alone power. You are writing extremist and very dangerous things. It’s vile rhetoric and in a just world would be flagged to oblivion.

by fredgrott an hour ago

Mexico has a weak Federal gov but more strong local states....

I did not use to be this way, before the revolution it was the opposite.

History wise, started changing in the 1930s as far as illegal drug trafficking groups wrestling local gov, state gov, and fed gov away from law and order missions.

by ufocia 39 minutes ago

This begs the question, who is paying for it?

by blitzar 26 minutes ago

They built a wall and paid mexico for it

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