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San Francisco Wants ED-209, Or Maybe Robocop
The San Francisco Police Department is interested in deploying robots to kill suspects law enforcement sees as an imminent threat to loss of life, either among the public or police officers.
Science fiction fans recall the fictional, but still effectively cautionary tale, of the ED-209 robot from the futuristic 1987 movie Robocop.
this proposal has already seen significant opposition from both within and without the Board. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, initially pushed back against the use of force requirements, inserting “Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person," into the policy language. The SFPD removed that wording in a subsequent draft, which I as a lifelong San Francisco resident did not know was something that they could just do. The three-member Rules Committee, which Peskin chairs, then unanimously approved that draft and advanced it to the full Board of Supervisors for a vote on November 29th. Peskin excused his decision by claiming that “there could be scenarios where deployment of lethal force was the only option.”
(ED 209 needs more work)
"The Enforcement Droid series 209 is a self-sufficient law enforcement robot. The 209 is currently programmed for urban pacification, but that is only the beginning. After a tour of duty in Old Detroit, we can expect 209 to become the hot military product of the next decade..."
The term robocop predates the movie; it was used in Wanted in Surgery, a 1957 story by Harlan Ellison.
('Wanted in Surgery' by Harlan Ellison)
Via Engadget.
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