Community | January 26, 2012 | 3 comments

Microsoft Under Fire For “Avoid The Ghetto” App

source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/25/145337346/this-app-was-made-for-walking-but-is-it-racist

Image
Radical_Centrist
Microsoft is under fire this week over a patent it was granted that’s been dubbed the “avoid ghetto” feature for GPS devices. The new feature is meant to help pedestrians avoid unsafe neighborhoods, bad weather and difficult terrain by taking information from maps, weather reports, crime statistics and demographics, and creating directions that, according to the patent, take “the user through neighborhoods with violent crime statistics below a certain threshold.”

The word “ghetto” doesn’t actually appear anywhere in Microsoft’s “Pedestrian Route Production” patent, but a slew of headlines touting the incendiary “avoid ghetto” nickname have generated outrage. Some say the feature is racist, while others say it’s simply the next step in GPS technology.

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/25/145337346/this-app-was-made-for-walking-but-is-it-...
  1. groups:
    Community
  2. tags:
    Microsoft,  GPS,  Ghetto
  3.     
    |

3 comments // Microsoft Under Fire For “Avoid The Ghetto” App

  • Radical_Centrist
  • fiberbundle
    • 0
      fiberbundle  

    • Change the name to "avoid gangland" and see if you can use actual police data on where and which gangs are active along your route. Just use street crime statistics rather than whatever it is they're currently using.

    • 4 months ago
  • maasanova
    • 0
      maasanova  

    • Sure lets just have everyone NOT be allowed to have their GPS alert them of the bad parts of town in unfamiliar cities just because a few people are complaining about racism.

    • 4 months ago
more from Community:
from the community

top videos