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Comment by jlarocco | Hacker News Reader

They should market this to the nosy busy-bodies on NextDoor.

Can anybody explain why they would install an app like this? What ever happened to people minding their own business?

I imagine if you live on an urban street where (say) kids walk to school and there are various selfish drivers who regularly speed, this could be rather useful.

I don't see how this helps. What would be useful is for you (and your neighbors) to report the issue to the city and have them install speed bumps and maybe have a speed trap setup. Not everything needs an app.

What percentage of American communities do you think the police force or council would do either of those things on the basis of a request? In Oakland it took years after multiple fatalities at crosswalks for there to be enforcement and road works.

Fair point, though at the same time I don’t see how this app would help any more or less.

>What percentage of American communities do you think the police force or council would do either of those things on the basis of a request?

What percentage of communities are rich suburbs that have more money and staff than they really have a use for.

And IMO just covering that small % of communities would satisfy 99% of people making these requests.

Okay, but all this app does is add a middle man, and that's just going to slow things down. If the city is ignoring complaints and fatalities, why would they pay more attention to this app?

As much as I dislike the survelience aspects, police operated red-light and speed cameras are already a thing. An app isn't going to fix the problem that your police don't care.

How does "reporting to the city" differ from "reporting to the police"? Where I come from the reports to police do influence things like speed traps and speed bumps.

You're right. As I read in 1984, surveillance by the citizens, on the citizens, was a very effective tool for maintaining control.

This is probably an unpopular opinion but the police should be involved in that case. Now I know they hardly come out for even big crimes but I still believe citizens should not be trying to be the speed limit police.

You're already being recorded by a dozen surveillance doorbells and cheap outdoor cameras when you walk outside your house, in a normal middle-class neighborhood, these days :-/

For whatever reason, a bunch of other tech-crap has caught on only unevenly, but those seem to be fairly common everywhere.

There is no such thing as "minding your own business" on public roads. You had better be minding everyone's business.

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