Our obsession with explaining past atrocities could destroy our free speech

If we dig too deeply into everyone's internet data we will become afraid to ever type anything which might one day be seen as dangerous... police forces around the world are investing more money trying to predict crimes and stop them before they occur. It’s not precog intuition or strange telepathic gifts, but big data and algorithms... ... we’ve entered a world of retrospective fitting: predicting things after they’ve happened... every time something bad happens ... journalists and commentators engage in a frenzied mud-raking exercise, scouring through that individual’s online past looking for evidence that they showed signs of being radicalised, or angry, or sad, or whatever else might fit neatly to subsequent events. And, given we’re all online now, they will always find something... ... the impression of a linear and obvious pattern when there probably was none. It suggests that... vital clues were there all along if only we'd been looking hard enough. ... creates an unrealistic expectation that everything bad can and should be spotted in advance.... pressure will grow on ... the police to monitor us more and to pre-emptively arrest more... everyone will become too afraid of ever typing anything that might be seen as an indication of wrongdoing. - Our obsession with explaining past atrocities could destroy our free speech - Telegraph