Look Ma, I'm Getting Arrested!

robotissues writes "Cnet reviews 'I'm Getting Arrested,' an Android app that alerts your lawyer and loved ones if you have been arrested while peacefully demonstrating. The app makes it easy to broadcast a message via SMS in case all hell breaks loose."

All Hell?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think when all hell breaks loose, it looks like Darfur, not Occupy Wallstreet.

The good news is...

[Bardwick]

We're not to far from the first frost of the season, so a good bit of these protests will go away.

Corporate shills!

[ArcherB]

This is awesome. So while I'm out protesting corporations, I can use my phone, produced by a corporation, to notify my family that I've been arrested. Maybe I can get one of them to bring me a frapacino [motifake.com].

police state

[Lord Dreamshaper]

regardless of where you stand on any of the issues or what you think about any protests and protesters, whether you think all police are jackbooted thugs or are paragons of virtue, or (more realistically) somewhere in between, the fact that there is a (perceived or actual) need for this app is an incredibly sad comment on our times

Re:Corporate shills!

[Vanders]

To be fair, I don't think it's necessary for the protesters to abhor technology: it's a "No true Scotsman" fallacy to suggest that they should. If they were protesting Google, Samsung, HTC and AT&T directly then yeah, there would be some hypocrisy there. As it is they're on Wall St. and are directing their protests at the banks, mostly.

Re:All Hell?

[nedlohs]

Everyone else uses the phrase as a relative term. But go ahead and complain that your unique language choices aren't globally accepted.

Personally I think the phrase should only be used to refer to situations in which some crazy vampire opens a hellmouth, but I don't complain when nobody agrees with me.

Re:Corporate shills!

[mswhippingboy]

I suppose it would be more "pure" to eschew anything produced by a corporation while protesting their influence, but then the protesters would need to carry around stone tablets and chisels to communicate, all while wearing animal skins (or protesting in the nude). However, I see no hypocrisy in using all available technologies at their disposal to make their point. After all, the protests are not against technology, but rather corporate greed, government corruption and the undue influence of power and money on the political system.

Perhaps (as your post seems to infer) everyone should just STFU and accept the wonderful economic condition the US is in, due in no small part by the factors mentioned above, eh? I'm sure "Corporate America" thanks you for your support.

go long on guillotines

[Anonymous Coward]

I just hope when this is all said and done I still have enough in my 401k for a sniper rifle, a machete and some rope.

Re:All Hell?

[Culture20]

That's the same as this app. Reach for your phone during an arrest, and suddenly, cop thinks you're reaching for a weapon.

Re:Corporate shills!

[JWSmythe]

    Protests such as this don't serve to resolve any problems. They only serve to draw attention to the problem. Would one, ten, or ten million people standing around complaining about a problem make a difference? Not really.

    It would be more effective if those protesters, their friends, and their families, all cashed in their stock, paid off their loans (so as not to pay further interest), closed their bank accounts, and effectively said "hell no, we won't let you have any more of our money!"

    I've been doing my part towards this. I am open about problems I've had with banks. A recent even was with Wells Fargo. They started charging me fees which were contrary to federal law. I went to the bank first to discuss it. They refused to accept the fact that they were breaking the law. I filed a federal complaint over it. When faced with this they begrudgingly agreed to waive the fees, but still refused to admit that they were at fault. Basically, they claimed it was my fault that they were illegally applying fees. In the end, I closed my account without needing to pay the fees. Several friends did the same. I'm just one person, and it was only a handful of accounts that were closed because of this. If every person who was wronged did the same thing, it would have a severe impact on banks and other companies that are viewed as "doing wrong". These companies can only thrive for as long as they have these huge customer bases, that pay fees and interest.

    In other words, don't complain about the problem. Do something about the problem. Stop paying them to be the problem.

Re:Corporate shills!

[Hatta]

See, much of my retirement is tied up in Wall St and I'm the working class schlub they are supposed to be protesting for. They are NOT helping!

That's a nice insurance policy Wall Street has. If the serfs get too uppity, just crash their retirement. That way you get a country full of Uncle Toms running to prop up the system. Aren't you upset about being in such a bind that you can't even speak your mind for fear of losing your retirement?

Putting your retirement in the stock market is a stupid idea to begin with. Workers should be paid enough that they can save what they need to retire on, without being forced to gamble, or fund unethical behavior.

Taking down corporations is not going to improve our economic situation

Very few people want to take down corporations. We just want them to play fair. They should pay their workers a fair share of the profits. The officers of corporations should go to jail when the corporation commits crimes. And they shouldn't have undue influence over the political process.

Do you disagree?

Then again, I don't see these guys as Nobel Laureate Economists.

At least one Nobel Laureate economist has strongly supported the economic ideas behind OWS.

the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called "economic royalists," not the people camping in Zuccotti Park.
-Paul Krugman