smart phone app designed to avoid high crime areas racist?

[Sunni Man]

An in-development Microsoft smart phone app designed to help drivers and pedestrians avoid unsafe neighborhoods is proving controversial among some minority rights groups that find the software potentially discriminatory.

The as-of-yet unnamed product is being referred to as the “Avoid The Ghetto” app by those who are concerned with where it will guide users.

“I’m going to be up in arms about it if it happens,” said Dallas NAACP President Juanita Wallace.

Wallace spent her afternoon at a rally on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and said she felt safe there, but fears the app may project otherwise.

“Can you imagine me not being able to go to MLK Blvd. because my GPS says that’s a dangerous crime area? I can’t even imagine that,” she said.

Microsoft says the app will use crime statistics to determine what parts of town are to be avoided. But it’s unclear where the data will come from and how it will be interpreted.

Microsoft has filed a patent for the app, but the actual product is unnamed and not available yet.

Opponents like Wallace fear it could hurt minority communities.

“It’s almost like gerrymandering,” she said. “It’s stereotyping for sure and without a doubt; I can’t emphasize enough, it’s discriminatory.”

smart phone app designed to avoid high crime areas racist? | News Forums - Current Affairs

 

[Skull Pilot]

Not at all.

All the app does is chart crime data that is public record on a map.

 

[Warrior102]

I think it's a good idea.
The NAACP doesn't like the "ghetto" reference. They must assume that everyone in an area such as this is black. I find that racist

 

[Sunni Man]

I was in my car yesterday listening to talk radio about this subject.

Self identified black people were calling in and screaming that the application was racist against blacks.

Because the areas with the most crime highlighted by the app were basically the "Hood"

Plus, the callers claimed it would destroy minority business because people would avoid shopping in these areas.

As though most people drive from the suburbs to the ghetto to go shopping.

 

[chanel]

A friend showed me an app on her phone that maps local sex offenders. There are several living in our town. I think it's a great idea and it is public info.

Tough shit if some people don't agree. Maybe if it hurts businesses, they'll get together and try to solve the problem, since the govt. isn't doing a very swell job.

 

[Warrior102]

A friend showed me an app on her phone that maps local sex offenders. There are several living in our town. I think it's a great idea and it is public info.

Tough shit if some people don't agree. Maybe if it hurts businesses, they'll get together and try to solve the problem, since the govt. isn't doing a very swell job.

I know that info has been on the Internet for awhile now. We too have a few sex offenders locally. I also have a "Cop Radio" app - it's been very helpful avoiding speed traps, accidents, etc.

 

[Sunni Man]

Personally, I would love to have that app on my phone.

Because if I was driving in a city that I was unfamiliar with.

I would feel much safer being directed around high crime area's.

Than unknowingly driving thru them and becoming a statistic.

 

[Rozman]

I don't have a smart phone now....
If they have this I will have to get one now....
I don't want to go into unsafe areas.
If my office dispatches me to one I can get out of it
or demand hazard duty pay....

This is good stuff!

 

[Douger]

What's it do ? Fire off a warning whistle when it detects you 1/2 a mile from any Martin Loser King blvd on earth ?

 

[Rozman]

You get that lady's voice that says
"When possible make a legal U turn"....
And get your ass outta there.

Let's face it black people in their hood
don't really want white people in there anyway...

 

[mskafka]

Although the name is funny (and before anyone gets angry, it's not only blacks who live in ghettos) perhaps calling it something other than "Avoid the Ghetto" would have been less offensive to some.

I live in Nashville, and there are places that I get uneasy driving through at night...or even sometimes during the day. And it isn't just black neighborhoods. There are streets and neighborhoods (of every race) that are so full of gang activity and drugs, one would be an absolute fool to walk down the streets there at night. And when people ask me which places to avoid, I don't hesitate to tell them.

Those who are offended; get over it. If it bothers you so much, get involved and clean up the criminal activity in your neighborhood. I don't like driving through most of Detroit or Memphis at any time of the day or night. That doesn't make me racist. It makes me human, and afraid of being raped, robbed, or murdered.

 

[Warrior102]

This APP would go apeshit in Norfolk

 

[mskafka]

This APP would go apeshit in Norfolk

I felt pretty safe in Norfolk, but I'm sure that you could show me some of the finer sides. Ick. Have you been to Memphis? It's a white-knuckle drive through much of it.
I remember having to stop and get fuel there after midnight, while driving home from Tunica, MS once. I was literally afraid to come to complete stop at the red lights. I continued to roll just in case I needed to punch it, to get the hell out of there in a hurry. There were multitudes of people standing on both sides of the street, staring...again, this was in the middle of the night.

 

[Warrior102]

This APP would go apeshit in Norfolk

I felt pretty safe in Norfolk, but I'm sure that you could show me some of the finer sides. Ick. Have you been to Memphis? It's a white-knuckle drive through much of it.
I remember having to stop and get fuel there after midnight, while driving home from Tunica, MS once. I was literally afraid to come to complete stop at the red lights. I continued to roll just in case I needed to punch it, to get the hell out of there in a hurry. There were multitudes of people standing on both sides of the street, staring...again, this was in the middle of the night.

I have been to Memphis, yes. Stayed downtown - nice place (the place with the ducks).
Norfolk over the years has improved dramatically. I was there a couple months ago and was amazed at the downtown improvements. Beautiful! You should have seen it 20 years ago! Slums everywhere. I owned a home in Norview and that neighborhood had it's crime issues, even in the mid-90s. Where did you live there?

 

[chanel]

Same with NYC. Thank you former Mayor Rudy.

 

[Sunni Man]

The people on the radio were screaming the app was racist.

And that it would hurt minority business in the area's the app identified as high crime.

But I believe that the opposite is true.

In fact it would help business in the ghetto.

Because people, especially out of town tourists looking for crack or prostitutes. could use the app to tell them exactly where they need to drive to find both.

 

[High_Gravity]

I don't think the app is racist.

 

[Katzndogz]

It's not racist at all. No one is going to be prevented from going to high crime areas, they will just be informed that a given area is high crime. It could be high crime for any number of reasons.

Latino gangs have a long standing goal of ethnic cleansing of blacks out of Los Angeles. I see nothing wrong with telling black people they are in danger of entering a hispanic gang controlled area.

 

[Sunni Man]

It's not racist at all. No one is going to be prevented from going to high crime areas, they will just be informed that a given area is high crime. It could be high crime for any number of reasons.

Latino gangs have a long standing goal of ethnic cleansing of blacks out of Los Angeles. I see nothing wrong with telling black people they are in danger of entering a hispanic gang controlled area.

The app does not include the race or ethnicity of the criminals who committed the crimes.

It only displays the types of crime and locations where recent crimes have taken place.

 

[syrenn]

its not a racist app. Its a crime rate app.


And when it comes out.....i WANT IT.