Chapter 16 Exercises
Exercise 16.1 — Camera Coverage Mapping (Individual or Small Group)
Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Materials: Graph paper or free mapping software (Google My Maps), smartphone or notebook
Instructions:
Walk a two-block radius around your home, apartment, or campus building. For each Ring or similar doorbell camera you observe, note:
- The address (approximate)
- The camera's approximate field of view (what it appears to cover)
- Whether its field of view extends beyond the property onto the sidewalk, neighboring driveways, or nearby windows
After completing the survey:
a. Draw a simple map showing the cameras and their coverage areas. Note areas of overlapping coverage.
b. Identify any "gaps" in coverage — areas not captured by any camera you observed.
c. Are the gaps and coverage areas randomly distributed, or do they follow any discernible pattern (by housing type, by the apparent income of the block, by the racial or ethnic composition of the area)?
d. Write a 300-word reflection: If this camera network were connected to a law enforcement database, what would a detective be able to reconstruct about any person who walked through this area? What would they not be able to know?
Discussion prompt: Share your maps with the class. Do your maps show similar or different patterns? What explains the differences?
Exercise 16.2 — Neighbors App Analysis (Individual)
Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Materials: Access to Neighbors app or online documentation/screenshots (the app is free to download)
Note: Students in some areas may not have active local content on Neighbors. If your area is low-activity, use the screenshots and case studies provided in the supplementary materials folder, or search for documented Neighbors posts discussed in news coverage.
Instructions:
Review 15–20 posts from the Neighbors app in your geographic area (or from the supplementary materials). For each post, record:
- The type of content (footage clip, still image, text-only alert)
- The category (crime, suspicious activity, safety alert, lost pet, etc.)
- Any description of individuals depicted (age, race, gender, physical description)
- The level of engagement (reactions, comments)
After reviewing:
a. What proportion of posts involve descriptions of "suspicious" individuals? Of those, how are the individuals described (in terms of identifiable characteristics)?
b. What behaviors trigger "suspicious activity" reports? Are these behaviors objectively threatening, or do they involve activities that are ordinary in different contexts (e.g., walking slowly, stopping to look at a phone)?
c. Apply the concept of "broken-windows theory in tech form" from the chapter. What does this app encourage users to treat as signs of disorder?
d. Write a 400-word analysis: Is the Neighbors app a crime prevention tool, a community communication platform, or a racial profiling infrastructure — or some combination? Defend your classification.
Exercise 16.3 — Privacy Policy Analysis (Individual or Pairs)
Estimated time: 60–90 minutes Materials: Ring's current privacy policy (available at ring.com/privacy), Ring's law enforcement guidelines (if publicly available), and any Ring transparency report
Instructions:
Read Ring's privacy policy carefully, paying attention to the following sections:
a. Data collected: What categories of data does Ring collect? Include both footage data and account/behavioral data.
b. Data sharing: Under what circumstances does Ring share data with third parties? How is "third party" defined in the policy?
c. Law enforcement provisions: How does the policy describe Ring's response to law enforcement requests? What procedural requirements does the policy impose on Ring before complying with such requests?
d. User rights: What rights do users have to access, correct, or delete their data? What rights do third parties (people who appear in footage without owning a Ring) have?
e. Policy change provisions: Can Ring change its policy in ways that affect how previously collected footage is used? What notice, if any, must Ring provide?
After reading, write a 500-word critical analysis addressing:
- What this policy permits that you would not have expected before reading it
- What this policy leaves ambiguous or unaddressed
- Whether you believe this policy provides adequate protection for Ring users AND for third parties who appear in footage
Reflection question: The chapter describes "consent as fiction" in Ring's ecosystem. Does reading the actual privacy policy change your assessment of whether Ring users meaningfully consent to Ring's data practices?
Exercise 16.4 — Role Play: The Neighbors Post (Small Group)
Estimated time: 30–40 minutes Group size: 4–5 students
Setup: Assign roles: - The Poster: A homeowner who has just uploaded a Ring clip showing an unfamiliar person walking slowly past houses at dusk. - The Defender: Someone who knows the "suspicious" person — they are a mail carrier finishing a late route. - The Police Liaison: A community policing officer who receives Neighbors alerts. - The Researcher: A social scientist who studies racial bias in neighborhood watch platforms. - The Moderator: A Ring community manager.
Scenario: The Poster has uploaded a clip with the caption: "Suspicious person on Oak Ave — taking photos of houses, wearing a backpack, moving slowly. Anyone know this person?" The person in the clip appears to be a young Black man. The Defender knows he is a photography student who was assigned to photograph residential architecture for a class.
Task: Role-play a community meeting convened to discuss the post and what should happen next. Each participant should advocate from their role's perspective for 3–4 minutes. After the role play, the group should attempt to reach a decision about:
- Whether the post should be removed
- Whether the police liaison should take any action
- What platform design changes could prevent similar situations
After the role play, write individual 200-word reflections on what the exercise revealed about the power dynamics of neighborhood surveillance platforms.
Exercise 16.5 — Comparative Governance Research (Individual or Pairs)
Estimated time: 60–90 minutes Materials: Internet access
Instructions:
Research how two of the following jurisdictions have approached the regulation of private doorbell cameras and neighborhood surveillance apps. For each jurisdiction, identify:
a. Any laws, regulations, or ordinances that apply to private cameras capturing public spaces b. Any specific provisions governing law enforcement access to private camera footage c. Any civil society or advocacy campaigns around Ring or similar platforms
Jurisdictions (choose two):
- European Union (GDPR framework)
- United Kingdom (Information Commissioner's Office guidance)
- California (California Consumer Privacy Act / AB 1215 facial recognition ban)
- Oakland, California (surveillance oversight ordinance)
- Australia (Privacy Act / state surveillance legislation)
- Canada (PIPEDA framework)
After researching, write a 500-word comparative analysis:
a. What does the most protective jurisdiction do that the least protective does not? b. What would it mean to apply the most protective regime to Ring cameras nationwide in the United States? c. What political and economic obstacles would such a reform face?
Exercise 16.6 — The Structural Analysis Essay (Individual, Major Assignment)
Estimated time: 2–3 hours Length: 800–1,200 words
Prompt:
This chapter argues that Ring's racial surveillance outcomes are structural — produced by the architecture of the platform — rather than simply the product of biased individuals. Write an essay that:
a. Explains what a structural analysis is and how it differs from an individual/intentionalist analysis (drawing on the chapter and on concepts from earlier in the textbook)
b. Applies the structural analysis to Ring, identifying at least three specific design choices or business decisions that produce racially disparate surveillance outcomes
c. Evaluates one counterargument: that Ring is a neutral tool and that racist surveillance outcomes reflect user behavior, not platform design
d. Concludes by proposing one structural intervention — a change to Ring's architecture, business model, or legal environment — that would address the structural problem you have identified
Evaluation criteria: - Accurate use of surveillance concepts from the chapter - Quality of structural reasoning (vs. individual/intentionalist analysis) - Engagement with counterarguments - Clarity and specificity of reform proposal