Violent crime in the US is at its lowest rate in decades. But you wouldn’t know that from a crop of increasingly popular social media apps that are forming around crime.
Apps like Nextdoor, Citizen, and Amazon Ring’s Neighbors — all of which allow users to view local crime in real time and discuss it with people nearby — are some of the most downloaded social and news apps in the US, according to rankings from the App Store and Google Play.
Nextdoor bills itself as the “world’s largest social network for the neighborhood,” where you can ask for nearby restaurant recommendations, buy used furniture, or report a stolen bike. In practice, its “crime and safety” section has been a hotbed for racial stereotyping that’s forced the company to rewrite its software and policies.
Citizen — whose previous form was called Vigilante and which appeared to encourage users to stop crimes in action — sends users 9-1-1 alerts for crimes happening nearby. It also allows users to livestream footage they record of the crime scene, “chat with other Citizen users as situations develop” and “build out your Inner Circle of family and friends to create your own personal safety network, and receive alerts whenever they’re close to danger.”
Now Amazon has thrown its hat in the ring — with Ring. It recently advertised an editorial position that would coordinate news coverage on crime, specifically based around its Ring video doorbell and Neighbors, its attendant social media app. Neighbors alerts users to local crime news from “unconfirmed sources” and is full of Amazon Ring videos of people stealing Amazon packages and “suspicious” brown people on porches. “Neighbors is more than an app, it’s the power of your community coming together to keep you safe and informed,” it boasts.
Related links:
Stochastic terrorism
The public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted:
The lone-wolf attack was apparently influenced by the rhetoric of stochastic terrorism.
The government teaches hate and discrimination to those not smart enough to question the government. Private business carries out a dangerous and irresponsible message that endangers private law abiding citizens without a care in the world.
A sense of entitlement to harm others unnecessarily without a second thought. Shame on them. Since I’m the only one that can feel shame for them.
It is possible… for Amazon to integrate their AI based (facial) “Rekognition” product into the Neighbors platform; and use video from Ring video doorbells to do real-time match-ups, against mugshots and SO registries.
I’m really very surprised that the article did not talk about “$EX offenders”. They talk about how these apps further racial discrimination, issues, and actually put people in danger. Yet no mention of “$EX offenders”. Glaring oversight.
Obviously we all know that nextdoor.com tries to keep “$EX offenders” off of their app and out of neighborhoods, presumably where all the decent, good people live and use their app to gossip about “$EX offenders”. It is outrageous that any decent person would actually think that is acceptable. And in fact, I don’t think that decent people do.
I am on nextdoor.com because my family and I find it to be useful. We have used it for all kinds of things, at least one of which was extremely important to us. Without even being biased, I can say without doubt that it is beyond idiotic and hateful that nextdoor.com would try to keep me AND my family off of their app and out of our neighborhood. That should truly be offensive to any actual American.
It is also outrageous that these apps promote themselves for safety and yet deliberately want to ensure that some families are not part of that safety. Doubly outrageous that any government or their law enforcement criminals would use or promote such an app. Ought to be illegal even.
Speaking of which, if/when I find out that some major service is trying to exclude “$EX offenders”, I typically will start using that service. Perhaps that is a marketing ploy by them? The criminal regime of North Carolina has recently been talking about a new “law” that will make it illegal for any listed person to violate a company’s Terms of Service so that it would be illegal for any listed person to use Facecrook, nextdoor, or whatever. That is the level of desperation that they are at. They’ve been crying their little eyes out ever since they lost Packingham. They are desperate for their next “$EX offender” score. They need a cheap, easy hit.
I’ve never heard of Citizen or Amazon Ring’s Neighbors apps. I wonder if either one blocks people who are on a registry from joining, like Nextdoor does. Do any of you know?
“To me, the danger with these apps is it puts the power in the hands of the individual to decide who does and doesn’t belong in a community,” Renderos said.
Who asked them to play a supreme power? No one. These are people and one person doesn’t get the vote of who stays and goes. King or Queen of the cul-de-sac be gone!
The game of telephone is now a weapon, as discussed here before, through computers, portable devices, and doorbells.
“It’s natural for people to want to know more about the world around them in order to decrease their uncertainty and increase their ability to cope with danger, Ewoldsen said, so people turn to these apps.”
This is exactly the false reasoning that has kept Megan’s Law around.
“Why people are socializing more about crime even as it becomes rarer.”
Because these app builders know how to exploit the unwarranted fear in parents. These “safety apps” predicate on societies’ insecurities and the availability heuristic. People are addicted to instant gratification, gossip and outrage, so they rely on gimmicky solutions like these apps to get their daily fix. This has been Dr. Phil and Nancy Graces’ business model for years.
A great way to make money and build power in America is to keep your targeted group constantly afraid of phantom threats.
The only way to win the game is not to play.
I’ve used Nextdoor and I currently have and prefer Ring.
The differences between both platforms are completely different. Nextdoor is intrusive, violates users’ privacy and even leaves many users at risk. Ring does not violate your privacy, it keeps neighbors’ privacy safe by simply using a numbering format.
As a woman, I would NOT dare put myself at risk. Nextdoor lies about its radius of access. I was on the site yesterday (I used an alias) and I saw a post from a lady in Southern Pines and I’m in a town over 50 miles away. So Nextdoor completely lies about just the immediate area being able to access your info and posts.