Image credit – Today Show/Facebook
Now with everyone pretty much stuck at home, many have taken to social media platforms to share throwback photos of times when they were allowed to go out and walk around and travel. This has become pretty much the norm, but over in Australia, it seems that police might have gotten ahead of themselves and fined a couple for violating lockdown orders over a throwback photo.
The couple, Jaz and Garry Mott, were at home when police showed up at their door with a fine for $3,300 over the photos they posted. This was because the police thought that the photos were recently taken during the lockdown orders, and where violators of those orders would be met with hefty fines to discourage people from going out unless absolutely necessary.
However, what the police did not know was that these photos were old photos and were actually taken last year, long before the lockdown orders were in place. Speaking to Seven News network, the police were quoted as saying, “On occasion, errors will be made however that is why a review process exists to ensure instances such as these are identified and rectified.”
That being said, this incident has raised some questions about how the situation was handled. The police insist that they are not monitoring social media and that they only reacted after a public report was made. However, it was also recently revealed that the police were using Clearview’s AI facial recognition system, which could have potentially flagged this photo, although the police are also insisting that they aren’t doing that.
According to Jazz Mott, she told the Daily Mail that the police had told them not to post anymore photos while the lockdown order was in place.
Filed in . Read more about Coronavirus, Covid-19 and Legal. Source: gizmodo