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Food Delivery Robots Are Feeding Camera Footage to the LAPD, Internal Emails Show (www.404media.co)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Serve Robotics, which delivers food for Uber Eats, provided footage filmed by at least one of its robots to the LAPD as evidence in a criminal case. The emails show the robots, which are a constant sight in the city, can be used for surveillance.

A food delivery robot company that delivers for Uber Eats in Los Angeles provided video filmed by one of its robots to the Los Angeles Police Department as part of a criminal investigation, 404 Media has learned. The incident highlights the fact that delivery robots that are being deployed to sidewalks all around the country are essentially always filming, and that their footage can and has been used as evidence in criminal trials. Emails obtained by 404 Media also show that the robot food delivery company wanted to work more closely with the LAPD, which jumped at the opportunity.

The specific incident in question was a grand larceny case where two men tried (and failed) to steal a robot owned and operated by Serve Robotics, which ultimately wants to deploy “up to 2,000 robots” to deliver food for UberEats in Los Angeles. The suspects were arrested and convicted.

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[–] WaxedWookie 58 points 9 months ago (3 children)

So someone tried to steal one of the robots, and the robot company was keen to give the footage to the cops?

There's a lot of potential for fuckery here, but dishonestly spinning this non-issue to look like some kind of crisis distracts from real problems with privacy and the police. Hack "journalists".

[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago

This specific case is like saying someone tried to steal your car that had a dash cam in it and you agreed to send the footage to the police.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Yeah they really buried some critical information on this one. I get the point of the article about general surveillance but when people feel tricked they get burned out on the issue and trust the media less. They could have made the point they wanted without making it clickbait.

[–] RealFknNito -2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

After finding out Ring lets police access their camera footage at will, I'm wary of any other instances of the same. This might not rise to this level yet but the possibility exists, as you mentioned.

[–] WaxedWookie 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

(late to respond here - sorry) As I said, the risk is certainly there, but writing stories like this that so dishonestly frame a non-issue sets the expectation that people are going to kick up a fuss about every non-issue, so any concerns along these lines should simply be ignored. This means that the real issues will be dismissed when they do inevitably arise.

"Food Delivery Robots Are Feeding Camera Footage to the LAPD, Internal Emails Show" implies secretive, leaked collusion with the cops to stream live video to them... a more accurate headline (that fails to beat a story out of nothing) would be "Robotics company gives footage of attack on its robot to police".

[–] RealFknNito 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes but that's a practice as old as the profession itself. Write a headline that's not legally a lie, regardless of the implications, for the attention. It's not something you can get rid of so long as they make money on said attention.

The Ring situation however is a real issue. Police can just grab footage from those because the company allows it and it's really fucked up.

[–] WaxedWookie 1 points 8 months ago

It's an old practice, not an excusable one. Any "news" outlet pushing this misleading trash out should face similar consequences to false advertising without the need to initiate litigation (this isn't libellous for example).

But yeah, the ring situation is indeed very real, entirely fucked, and unlikely to change until their sales start taking a kicking.