posted in Technology
A missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/police-missed-one-underscore-and-sent-the-wrong-man-to-prison/
Ars TechnicaA missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 monthsWhen the first step goes wrong, bad results follow.Replying to @themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Time to sue Wisconsin police dept for fucking that one up!! The Canadians did their job based on false information!
Replying to @unitedwithme@lemmy.today
The Canadians did their job
no they did not. i would agree with you if all Canadian authorities did was search the computers but once they found nothing, it should have eneded. how do you convict a man with no evidence?
Replying to @terabyterex@lemmy.world
Probably under the assumption the data was deleted. But yeah, the fact a typo was missed by all is rough
Replying to @unitedwithme@lemmy.today
Probably under the assumption the data was deleted.
Which is why allowing that sort of inference to be made, under any circumstances, is absolutely tyrannical.