The Spy Next Door
This report details the dangers and bias of neighborhood surveillance apps that encourage users to upload video footage, photos, and descriptions of suspected crimes. Popular apps like Nextdoor, Neighbors by Amazon Ring, and Citizen can promote racial profiling and facilitate police violence toward BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ communities, and people with disabilities.
Key Findings Include:
Neighborhood surveillance apps enable police to request app users’ video footage, photos, and input;
Apps erode neighborhood sense of safety and social trust, stoking fear of often imagined threats;
Tech companies have repeatedly failed to address rampant racial profiling and harassment of BIPOC individuals on apps;
Apps expand police power and boost big tech profits through volunteer civilian labor;
Biometric and other sensitive data on apps could be easily misused and monetized by tech companies, hackers.
This report was supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Foundations and by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
