[reaperducer]

the threshold used was the default

What makes you think that a LEO would change the defaults? They're not computer scientists, they're people who bought a product to perform a specific function.

It's a tool for generating investigative leads

So were photo books, lie detectors, surveillance cameras, and other tools at first. They became a close enough proxy for "guilt" in the eyes of the users for people to automatically be treated as criminals, even if they'd done nothing wrong.

[manigandham]

Was this the actual product used by law enforcement or just the same software workflow used for a study? Those are entirely different environments and there's no reason to expect the final offering to behave like the academic setup used in a specific report.

[HALtheWise]

I believe that there were multiple defaults, and they intentionally chose the wrong one to make a point. Your quote cropping is embarrassing.

The analogy would be blaming an anchor manufacturer when the "default anchor" for rowboats doesn't hold an oil tanker.

[skybrian]

The question is how do you prevent abuse without handicapping investigators too much, since presumably you do want cases to be solved if possible?