Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Australia to launch false accusation app


In one of the most brilliant and compelling rape hysteria propaganda bits I have seen since the odious term “rape culture,” was coined, Australia’s Centre Against Sexual Assault (ACASA) has just announced that it will be launching a free app, ostensibly designed to help police evaluate patterns of crime against women.

A more complete description, provided by theage.com.au, puts it in crystal clear language:

The new app will allow users to use their mobile phone to anonymously post details about threatening sexual behaviour, including the time and place it occurred and a description of alleged offenders. The data collected will then be given to police.

There now, all comfy?

What this amounts to is an accusation app, placed in the hands of anonymous women, who have no responsibility whatsoever for the accuracy of the information they report. Its potential for abuse is overwhelming, a concern acknowledged, and shamefully dismissed by ACASA branch head Carolyn Worth.

”We’ll only refer incidents that have similar times, locations and descriptions,” she said. ”Police still need evidence.”

Right. So someone would have to use the app against a person two or three times to put an innocent man in the hot seat. Of course, that would never happen. Right, Carolyn?

Right?

I will not dwell on the obvious unfairness of efforts that only concern themselves with crimes against one sex, regardless of what is happening to the other. Given the pernicious nature of this initiative I think we are past a civil debate on the basics of sexism.

The only thing I have to say is that I think if there ever were something that deserved to be undermined, FTSU style, this is it.

I encourage all Australians to download this app, as soon as it becomes available, and to literally flood it with erroneous information. In fact, make abuse of the app a daily ritual in your life.
Remember, there are no controls over this information. You can profile anyone you want. I suggest starting with Carolyn Worth. Profile your dog. If his name happens to be Michael Flood, all the better. Hell, I don’t care, profile me. Just hammer them with false reports till it completely pollutes all the data they are gathering.

Don’t fall for the lie that this is about protecting women, or any other Australian citizen. It is about creating license for state functionaries, on the say so of anyone, whether a victim or just someone with a vendetta, to undermine the rights of male citizens in Oz and to create more propaganda to be used in fundraising efforts for outfits like ACASA.
But you do not have to let them enjoy the use of this irresponsible technology without serious problems. Just 10 people making 5 false reports a week, one a day on week days, will very likely screw their already screwed up data.


It is up to you. Make abusing this app in different ways a part of your daily routine as an MRA. Just a couple of thousand concocted reports (much like many of the “legit” ones surely coming in) per year and we can effectively make this program more hassle than it is worth.

For those of you concerned about the false accusation flavor of this, just take them at their word that this is only about trends and not individuals. If they are lying about that, it is not your problem.
This program is Orwellian in the most literal understanding of the word. It is up to you to do something about it.

As far as we have been able to ascertain, there is nothing illegal in our actions, and no way to stop it from happening. AVfM will be tracking developments in this case and doing everything we possible can to undermine the use of this app to target innocent men. That means the app has to GO.

This article was originally published on A Voice For Men by Paul Elam.

3 comments:

  1. From the article:

    **Ms Worth said the app would not provide the same detail as American versions, which show sex offenders with headshots on a map. She labelled those apps as a ''bad idea''.
    ''They almost give people an invitation to go and target someone,'' she said. ''Our app is about empowering women, not pulling up a list of who lives where.''**

    The problem is not just in OZ.

    Barefoot Dave


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  2. I'm not convinced that this will necessarily lead to abuse. After all, Carolyn Worth said that the police would need evidence, and they can't arrest you without reasonable suspicion (IANAL, but I don't think anonymous reports are enough to justify an arrest). I think advocating bogus reports is a bit rash at this point, but it's still worth keeping an eye on this to see if it does get abused.

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  3. There's an American version of the app? Orwellian indeed if so.

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