> This is just one more of those nutty things which are particular to America but which doesn't really generally happen in the rest of the west. I'd second thi

> This is just one more of those nutty things which are particular to America but which doesn't really generally happen in the rest of the west. I'd second this. A while ago there was an interesting television reportage on German Tv about this phenomenon. They showed things like people who called the police when their neighbors kids played on the street or parents monitoring their kids kindergarten via online webcams. Quite irritating stuff. Certainly, not every American is like this but the program was done by a serious public broadcaster so I guess there is something to it. It's on youtube (in German language, obvs) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOkBI65TRjY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOkBI65TRjY