The Oakland Police Department was outed earlier this week for requesting to acquire a robot armed with a shotgun – a weapon that they said would generally be loaded with blank ammunition, but that they would consider using with regular shotgun shells should they desire. Since the story was covered by The Intercept, the Oakland Police Department has said that they are no longer pursuing the acquisition at this time, but the reporter who covered the story initially has worries about the department’s future intentions and how these robotic systems are used by law enforcement nationally. We are joined in this episode by that reporter – Sam Biddle focuses on malfeasance and misused power in technology for The Intercept, and has published stories for Gawker, Gizmodo, GQ, Vice, and The Awl.

Follow Sam Biddle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/samfbiddle

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