App That Would Guide Users Away From
High-Crime Areas Proves Controversial
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) 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.
Im 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 thats a dangerous crime area? I cant even imagine that, she said.
Microsoft says the app will use crime statistics to determine what parts of town are to be avoided. But its 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.
Its almost like gerrymandering, she said. Its stereotyping for sure and without a doubt; I cant emphasize enough, its discriminatory.
Michael McNally, who was visiting Dallas Tuesday, said an app shouldnt have enough power to label a community.
It may have a high crime problem but have some great cultural, social things you can do there, McNally said.
Dallas resident Chris Hurst said it sounds like a good safety tool.
Id be all for it because you can never be too safe, he said.
Tommy Jones, who works downtown, said an app like Microsofts could hurt a citys economy.
From a business standpoint, it could be devastating, he said. Especially in the area of tourism.
Economic development is a major initiative that Mayor Mike Rawlings is pushing in parts of the city that the app may suggest against visiting.
Wallace is concerned this type of technology would continue to perpetuate stereotypes in Dallas and beyond.
What happens in North Dallas certainly ought to be no different than what happens in South Dallas, so we cant keep on doing this, she said. This type of technology is certainly going to pronounce and heighten it to some degree.
Microsoft declined to comment, issuing a statement that said the company does not comment on filed or awarded patents.