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.
“I’m 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 that’s a dangerous crime area? I can’t even imagine that,” she said.
Microsoft says the app will use crime statistics to determine what parts of town are to be avoided. But it’s 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.
“It’s almost like gerrymandering,” she said. “It’s stereotyping for sure and without a doubt; I can’t emphasize enough, it’s discriminatory.”

Michael McNally, who was visiting Dallas Tuesday, said an app shouldn’t 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.
“I’d be all for it because you can never be too safe,” he said.
Tommy Jones, who works downtown, said an app like Microsoft’s could hurt a city’s 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 can’t 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.”

sleeper;1057708 wrote:It's not racist. Some neighborhoods are unsafe, regardless of black or white.

“Can you imagine me not being able to go to MLK Blvd. because my GPS says that’s a dangerous crime area? I can’t even imagine that,” she said.

“It’s almost like gerrymandering,” she said. “It’s stereotyping for sure and without a doubt; I can’t emphasize enough, it’s discriminatory.”

queencitybuckeye;1057800 wrote:The racist is the person equating "ghetto" to "black". There are far more poor white people in the country than black.

sleeper;1057708 wrote:It's not racist. Some neighborhoods are unsafe, regardless of black or white.

Thinthickbigred;1057923 wrote:Is that just a feel good politically correct statement? Tell me where there is an all white neighborhood that is unsafe . Generally speaking . Tell me if you think what I just said is racist.

sleeper;1057935 wrote:Try the south.

pnhasbeen;1057940 wrote:The people calling it avoid the ghetto are the people against it which are apparently the naacp. So naacp leaders see an app to avoid crime areas as an app to avoid black areas. Very telling.

Mulva;1057829 wrote:I agree that ghetto shouldn't be equated to black, but I've never liked that argument. The per capita numbers are more relevant, in my opinion.

rmolin73;1057786 wrote:Not racist at all.

Thinthickbigred;1059403 wrote:Toledo and Detroit = alot of Middle Eastern people

rmolin73;1059456 wrote:What?