Civic Snooping for the Greater Good

A new app, "Neighborly," encourages civic duty through sanctioned snooping. Users earn points and badges for reporting "suspicious" activity, like a neighbor taking out their trash at 3 a.m. or having too many garden gnomes. The goal is to create a "community of watchfulness," but it's mostly created a community of paranoia and petty grudges. The leaderboard is topped by a retiree named Carol who has reported 47 separate "loitering" incidents, all involving the same mailman taking his break. Police are inundated with reports of "unapproved landscaping" and "suspiciously consistent jogging schedules." The app has solved zero crimes but has ended several block parties and one marriage. Carol was recently awarded "Citizen of the Month" for her vigilance. -- Bohiney Magazne bohiney.com