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YouTube Vigilantes Shine a Spotlight on Nasty Neighbors

by Warren Riddle on November 5, 2010 at 01:50 PM

spying through blindsYouTube users have repeatedly helped merchants, homeowners and police to nab evildoers. Plummeting tech prices are apparently now inspiring a new wave of YouTube citizen sleuths, and these vigilant observers are shifting their sights from burglars, animal abusers and Halloween hoodlums to perhaps the most despicable and annoying cretins on the planet -- belligerent neighbors.

The New York Times recounts the rise of these Little Big Brothers and their unceasing fight against neighborhood peepers, intruders, vandals and dog doo slingers. That fight doesn't just involve watching and finding a culprit, though, because this global YouTube Neighborhood Watch is all about abject humiliation. One victim uploaded a wacky, narrated musical video of his poo-hurling neighbor, and another created a variety of slapstick tributes to his next-door snoops.

Police officer Bruce Borihanh told the Times, "It's a powerful deterrent if people consider their actions could end up on YouTube." And, Adam Kliebert, whose neighbor pleaded guilty to vandalizing Kliebert's car, reportedly believes that his antagonist now "knows [the camera's] there so he won't try anything." Good cameras make good neighbors, it would seem.

Tags: BigBrother, crime, law, police, privacy, top, vandalism, youtube

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