imagine an app that is sort of like a panic button. You get pulled over, you open the app and hit the button which then (depending on your preferences), starts recording/streaming video and audio, locks the phone, and maybe starts recording accelerometer/gps data, etc.
It would need to be thoroughly developed/tested before actually it could be ethically recommended.
What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? unfeasible? Already existing?
I had a setup with a remote Asterisk server, and a Tasker app on my phone.
If I pressed a button on the phone, it placed a call to the Asterisk server, which dumped the call into a recorded conference room.
That was simple enough. The fun part happened next. The cops are always shown telling stopped subjects to stop recording and hang up phones. They’ll take the phone out of your hand, and attempt to delete recordings. I wanted to address that.
I worked out a script on the Asterisk server where if the phone hung up, it would immediately dial back, and dump the call right back in the recorded conference room. Tasker on the phone would silently answer a call from that number.
That was about as far as I got. I had planned on some way of the asterisk server dialing a contact list and adding them to the conference.
That sounds pretty awesome
Used to be the ACLU but it looks like that got shut down about a month ago: https://www.aclu.org/mobilejustice
Wow, too bad they didn’t at least open-source it. Take it off the app stores and disconnect the cloud service, but at least let others develop it
That is so dystopian, holy shit… I mean, if you see it as something people would want/need, then yeah, that sounds good. I don’t know if such a thing exists, though. This link shares some things, features, and apps that maybe do some of what you’re talking about.
I know there’s an app built by a French antipolice group. It’s sends the video to their server for safekeeping. Can’t remember what it’s called.
CopWatch used to be pretty active and has apps for iOS and Android, but I see they haven’t been updated in a couple of years.
If you’re on iOS, there’s a shortcut that dims your screen, begins recording video, and sends the video to anyone you choose from your contact list. Pretty basic, but also free.
Could I get a link?
Sorry, my bad. Here you go:
https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/2d68cb1ee7b84f08ace2fd600b9855b5
Not something I have heavily looked into before, but a police watch type channel I’ve followed for a long time has patrtnered with Attorney Shield which is quite similar to described, but goes one step further and connects you directly to a lawyer from my understanding.
Is it illegal to film police where you are? If it’s not illegal then just use your camera app. You can probably configure it so that you can open the camera app from the lockscreen without a password, but then of course make sure you can’t e.g. access anything from your gallery from the camera app. I have always just used my camera app to film police. There also used to be “secret recording” apps for Android at least, but I believe modern Android security doesn’t allow for that kind of app behaviour anymore.
Ethics. Police.
In the same post.
I’m not police, but I am in the legal industry. Ethics is talked about a lot. Not seen much.
I think most phones have recording apps.
?
Thank-you for your eloquence and loquacious reply.
Also interested in this. The ideal solution would stream to a private server for storage in real-time, with access control so you can grant trusted individuals access.
This would allow retention of evidence in a scenario where your phone is seized/destroyed/lost or you are detained, and would give you (and whoever you choose to grant access) the ability to control distribution, unlike a livestream to Twitch or YouTube or whatever.
In addition, it would be useful to have a dead mans switch function as well. For example, it uploads the livestream to a private server and a timer starts for a predetermined amount of time. The uploader has to enter a passkey or do a mfa or some similar security mechanism to stop the timer before it runs out. If it does run out or too many incorrect attempts are made, the uploaded video gets forwarded to a list of contacts, created by the video taker. Perhaps to a bunch of press contacts, civil rights groups, family members, next of kin or maybe a lawyer in the event of an incarceration.
I never could find an elegant solution for video, but I do use Easy Voice Recorder on Android. Records audio only on a locked phone and streams it to your Google Drive. I’ve used it in a pinch a couple of times and it’s performed perfectly. I keep looking for the video version of the same thing but alas…haven’t found it. Anyway, it really is a fantastic, free app.
I think I’ve read about something like that a few years ago but I don’t remember exactly. Was originally made for traffic accidents where you want to collect evidence against the other driver threatening you or similar, but should be exactly that.
You could use any trustworthy sync service with automatic camera uploads, but they will all wait until the video has finished recording before uploading it. Ideally there would be an app that streams live to a remote server that’s recording. There used to be. A sync service might be second best though.