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Sketch Factor

Sketch Factor is a new app that purports to measure how unsafe a particular neighborhood is.   Color me skeptical but color the lamer stream media as hostile, from PC Magazine [1]:

On paper, it sounds like a good idea: A smartphone app that uses crowd-sourced data to inform you of the more unsafe areas of your neighborhood. You might not need such a thing if you’ve lived in a particular area for a while, but it might be useful if you’re navigating a new city and have absolutely no idea where you should or shouldn’t go.

The problem? Allegations have been made that the app in question, Sketch Factor, is racist—unintentionally or otherwise.

Meanwhile back at the dude ranch,  TV news crew travels to one such sketchy neighborhood, I presume to disprove the app,from  CBS News [2]:

Sometimes – but not always – news reporters get exactly what they are looking for when covering a story.

For one news crew from CBS News affiliate WUSA in Washington, D.C., they got a little more.

The news crew’s vehicle was burglarized while they were working on a story about a controversial app that alerts people to “sketchy” neighborhoods, WUSA reports.

The crew had locked their news van on a street in Petworth in Northwest, D.C. while they were out in the neighborhood conducting interviews. When they returned they found the lock had been popped out of the door of their news van, and that most of the crew’s gear had been stolen.

No further comment.