this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2026
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Student Teacher Sent a Private Snapchat Complaining About Her Workday. An Hour Later, Police Pulled Up to Her School. (www.gadgetreview.com)
submitted 2 days ago by spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world
503 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Sixty minutes. That’s how long it took for a private Snapchat message to travel from Kristen Volpe’s phone to the FBI to the deputies standing in her elementary school hallway. On January 29, 2025, the 22-year-old student teacher at John L. Hensey Elementary in Washington, Illinois, vented to her boyfriend and two roommates — three people total — after a student closed her laptop mid-class and wiped her lesson plan. She referenced shooting the student or the school. She meant it as a frustrated joke. Snapchat’s algorithm didn’t get the humor.

No student reported her. No parent. No coworker. The flag was entirely automated. Snapchat’s policy permits voluntary emergency disclosures to law enforcement — no warrant required — when the platform determines imminent harm exists. The algorithm makes that initial call. Think of it like your Ring doorbell deciding to call 911 on its own, except the doorbell is reading your text messages.

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[–] CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca 0 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I completely agree there are abuses. But outlawing the technology doesn't change the mindset of law enforcement. In my opinion, we put pressure on lawmakers to make it criminal to abuse this power. We still protect the vulnerable, and our privacy is protected.

Considering its AI reviewing the texts and not humans, general privacy isn't compromised. Again, let's deal with the real issue which is abuse of power.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

...our president is a criminal who deserves to be in jail, but isn't. Lawmakers themselves obviously can't be trusted with this, either. I'd trust a random person off the street more than anyone in the government.

[–] CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

You have the upcoming elections to make a difference. Hopefully the Democrats don't shoot themselves in the foot.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 1 points 5 hours ago

Well, elections and the second amendment, yeah. Hopefully we can build a world where a policy can be made for good that actually does good, but we'll see.