US Senators tell Apple and others to remove DUI checkpoint app

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Neowin.net

US Senators tell Apple and others to remove DUI checkpoint app
Christopher White
20 minutes ago

Want to avoid a DUI? There’s an app for that. If four United States Senators get their way, that may soon change. Democrat senators from New York, New Jersey, Nevada and New Mexico have sent a letter to Apple, RIM, and Google, requesting that the application be taken down as soon as possible. Computer World has posted a piece of the letter that states:

Giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern. We hope that you will give our request to remove these applications from your store immediate consideration."

The senators appear to be targeting tools that take user-generated information on the location of red light cameras, speed traps, school zones, and DUI checkpoints and overlay that information on the map in order to warn motorists. There are many tools available that provide this type of functionality, although it appears that the group is specifically targeting PhantomALERT.



Read more: http://www.neowin.net/news/us-senators-tell-apple-and-others-to-remove-dui-checkpoint-app?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+neowin-main+%28Neowin+Main+News%29

[WingDinger]

1. How dare they. The intention is to elevate safety THERE, not generate revenue.

OR, is it?

[snooper2]

2. I hope Apple tells them to F-Off

[arcane1]

3. Just what we need...

drunk drivers fumbling around with their phones while driving.

[Xithras]

4. Never heard of PhantomAlert, but I use Trapster which does the same thing.

Trapster lets you flag checkpoints, speed traps, and other police activity.

While this doesn't impact me (Android user), I hope that Apple has the stomach to tell them to shove it. We don't want any precedents being set.

[midnight]

5. I wish our Senators would be more concerned about the lack of

jobs in our countries communities, or lack of affordable healthcare in our communities as a matter of public concern, instead of money making tools for those who profit from people being prosecuted...

[naaman fletcher]

6. good to know they are trying to shut down speech they don't like. not. nt.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Nobody who is together enough to use the ap would be caught

by a DUI checkpoint anyway. If you are impaired enough to get caught, you'd be too impaired to think about checking the ap.

IOW, sober people will use the ap to avoid the hassle. Drunk people will be caught anyway.

[NYC Liberal]

10. Yes, but they can still nail non-impaired people with

something else. Gotta bring in the revenue!

[ieoeja]

11. You're saying you would be too impaired after two or three drinks to think to use an app? nt

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[X_Digger]

17. Here they are..

Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Tom Udall (D-NM)

[krabigirl]

37. Wow. Just. Wow.

[rrneck]

9. The new CB radio...

:rofl:

[hlthe2b]

12. they can request all they want..

I don't believe they can require, but if they do, the courts will get it.

[SnoopDog]

13. Is there a law against this APP? If not, Senators...

STFU.

If it is against the law - then they broke the law and there is a legal remedy.

Otherwise, write a law to prevent it.

[speltwon]

46. I doubt any law could be written that would pass constitutional muster

I fucking HATE dui's. I have had 1 coworker killed by one, several injured by them, and I've had a few near misses.

With that said, I 100% support the right of these apps to exist. You cannot pass a constitutionally valid law to ban them. That simple.

I stand for free speech rights, even when it protects total fucksticks.

Granted, DUI checkpoints are unconstitutional in my state anyway, but I digress

[Travelman]

14. LOL!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/23/smartphone-app-surges-senators-complain-helps-drivers-avoid-dui-checkpoints/">I know, I know, the source. But still, I think it's hilarious.

A group of senators unintentionally sent sales through the roof for the maker of a smartphone app that alerts drivers to DUI checkpoints, after they called on Apple and other manufacturers to ban the product.

Joe Scott, CEO of PhantomALERT, told FoxNews.com on Wednesday that downloads are up by 5,000 percent and sales are up by 3,000 percent since the four senators voiced concern about the product, prompting a wave of media coverage in technology publications.

:rofl:

[ladywnch]

15. evidently, PhantomALERT hasn't paid its tithe to the Republican party yet. n/t

[pipoman]

51. Of course, as usual

it has to be the republican's fault, even though it is sponsered by 4 dems. The problem of not making our own accountable and blaming the republicans for what dems are doing is what is the problem.

Union busting..f--ing rethugs, yet little mention of the mute dems on the issue.

[truebrit71]

16. What are 'Democrat Senators'??

:puke:

[X_Digger]

18. Better article..

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214928/Senators_to_Apple_Pull_iPhone_DUI_checkpoint_alert_apps

[2Design]

19. drunk drivers couldn't operate an app - where are the jobs?

[Judi Lynn]

20. Seattle drivers downloading controversial app that helps dodge tickets

Seattle drivers downloading controversial app that helps dodge tickets
by NATALIE SWABY / KING 5 News
NWCN.com
Posted on March 23, 2011 at 8:21 AM

SEATTLE -- Four U.S. Senators are targeting applications, like Phantom Alert, which lets drivers know where DUI checkpoints are located.

Senators Harry Reid of Nevada, Charles Schumer of New York, Tom Udall of New Mexico, and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey sent a letter Tuesday to Apple, Inc. and others, asking that they alter or quit selling the downloadable app. The senators call an application that helps drunk drivers evade police "harmful to public safety."

“If the Senators really understood what we are doing and aim to achieve they would actually support us,” Phantom Alert CEO Joseph Scott responded in an email. “When drivers get alerts for DUI checkpoints on their smart phones and GPS, they will think twice about drinking and driving."

Washington is among the states that do not have DUI checkpoints, but people here are still downloading the app so they can find where red light cameras and traffic enforcement areas are located.

More:
http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=118492149&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10212

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. Senators: DUI checkpoint apps are "harmful to public safety"

Source: ars technica

DUI checkpoints are supposed to be a surprise, not something you can carefully plan your drinking-and-driving night around, according to four US Senators. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Tom Udall (D-NM) have written an open letter to Apple, Google, and RIM asking the companies to stop peddling apps that help drunk drivers avoid the police, calling the software "harmful to public safety."

The apps in question range from those that try to put DUI checkpoints on a map in real time to those that help users alert one another about police on the prowl for drunk drivers. One app that we found in the iOS App Store called "Checkpointer" specifically advertises its $4.99 offering as being able to save you "thousands of dollars by helping you avoid an arrest for a DUI." (The company that sells Checkpointer also offers bail bonds, so it's clear which demographic this company is catering to.) Another app called "Buzzed" says it will alert you when a DUI checkpoint shows up or is planned for your area, though it also offers a "call a cab" service based on your GPS location.

Similarly, Checkpoint Wingman for $1.99 on the Android Market offers real-time alerts when you are geographically close to a DUI Checkpoint, and PhantomALERT on both Android Market and Blackberry App World alerts users to the presence of DUI checkpoints, school zones, red light cameras, and speed traps.

In their letter, the Senators pointed that 10,000 Americans die from drunk driving incidents annually, arguing that access to these apps is only detrimental to the public.

Read more: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/03/senators-dui-checkpoint-apps-are-harmful-to-public-safety.ars

[Ian David]

22. They cannot legally ban these things. All they are doing is giving the company more publicity.

The way to thwart them is for law enforcement to purchase a few subscriptions to the programs, and then always submit two or three fake checkpoint reports for every real one that gets in the system.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

25. If it's harmful for public safety

why couldn't they? Couldn't they ban an app that, say, taught bomb making (or some other illegal activity)? I would have to ask, though, wouldn't somebody who is stone cold drunk have a hard time even using the app properly- while driving to boot? Driving drunk trying to use your mobile device so as to avoid a checkpoint. Seems pretty complicated to me. :shrug:

[hlthe2b]

29. Some states have managed to outlaw sales of radar detectors...

So, it probably could be banned. But, I think it will be hard and the courts would look pretty critically--especially if there were any alternate utility to the app.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

33. You're probably right

and it's not the most critical thing for our US Senators to be worrying about right now. Still, I'm personally uncomfortable about companies promoting things that would seek to help you evade the law. If you need to use something like this app (or radar detectors), it's fair to say that you know that you are (planning to) doing something you're not supposed be doing IMHO.

[hlthe2b]

34. Or maybe those who just don't want to get held up in a DUI checkpoint?

While I am Uber cautious about drinking and driving, even a single glass of wine safely consumed hours earlier would have me antsy if stopped at one of those checkpoints for fear of a false positive test.

[JoeyT]

48. Nonsense.

This is the first I've heard of this app, and I plan to buy it asap. I haven't had a drink in nearly a decade nor do I use or smuggle drugs. I don't appreciate being held up for an hour and a half because the cops want to search my car over and over for drugs because I look suspicious. Apparently not being white in the wrong area and having an unconventional appearance are something you're not supposed to be doing.

Edited to add: I don't know how they run checkpoints in your state, but in mine they're an excuse to bypass the constitution and search every car with a driver they don't like the looks of.

[Ian David]

30. They might not be drunk. They could just be smuggling drugs. Or kidnapping someone. n/t

[Proud Liberal Dem]

32. and if a DUI checkpoint catches somebody in the middle of doing one of those things

that would be bad? :shrug:

[Ian David]

36. No, but they'll probably be sober enough to use the program. n/t

[Duer 157099]

38. Why not some house-to-house searches too? Just in case

Think of all the criminals we could catch then.

[nosmokes]

28. Fuck them all, hard.

No, I don't condone driving under the influence, but I abhor checkpoints. And these checkpoints are not an effective deterrent.It's simply another erosion of our rights and liberties. And why in the holy hell are are Democratic Senators leading the charge for the State to check our papers? I've never been happier that I dumped my membership years ago. I always sorta hoped I could see my way clear to come back some day, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

[CBGLuthier]

23. the world burns and dems try to control social issues

making themselves look like fucking idiots in the process.

[Aryo]

24. The DUI checkpoints are "harmful to public safety"

and unconstitutional

[Freddie Stubbs]

27. How are DUI checkpoints "harmful to public safety?"

[JoeyT]

49. Because they're nothing but a way to bypass the constitution.

They're a way to search the cars of everyone driving down a particular road. Or everyone the police don't like the looks of.
I hit an average of about a roadblock every two weeks, and I've NEVER been through one they didn't demand to search my car.

I have to wonder about the race of the people that support checkpoints/roadblocks, because everyone I know that isn't white fucking despises them.

[Freddie Stubbs]

52. If they are unconstitutional, the courts will throw out any convictions which they lead to

I am not white, and I do not fucking despise them. Perhaps you need to get to know more non-white people.

[Warpy]

26. It would be interesting to find out if these things actually work

If they don't, maybe giving that belligerent drunk who won't hand over his car keys and take a cab a little false security will lead him right into the DUI checkpoint instead of allowing him to avoid it.

[madrchsod]

31. my county refuses to do dui checks.

the local paper prints the times ,days,and location of the dui check points in the neighboring county...

[Politicalboi]

35. So radar detectors are illegal in Ca

But these are not? My nephew has one of these App's. I only have a radar detector. LOL! After my last bogus ticket I chance it.

[krabigirl]

39. Bs, they have no right, I hope apple and others tell them to take a hike.

Makes m e want to puke even more when i realize this fascist talk is coming from Democrats.

[SemperEadem]

40. first off, I don't make it a habit of drinking and driving.

nor do I make it a habit of texting and driving. However, if I'm sober and about to drive home and don't want to be inconvenienced by drunk traps, then I would check it before starting up the car to see which route home to take.

seems to me the us senate has more important things to spend their time on and my tax dollars on.

[Duer 157099]

41. If they make this illegal, would it be illegal to inform somebody, say by phone, of

a checkpoint? If not, why not?

[X_Digger]

42. Virginia used to write tickets for warning other motorists of speed traps..

.. by flashing your headlights-- obstruction of justice. Not sure if they still do.

[sofa king]

43. Wow, I used that app for years. Back then it was called a "newspaper."

My local paper published the locations and times of all checkpoints, as I recall it because the police were required to do so. I wonder if that is still the case, and if it is, why in the hell can't someone's phone do the same thing?

[Adsos Letter]

45. The Napa Register continues to do the same thing. It never made sense to me. n/t

[jmowreader]

44. The problem with the states' position is...

these so-called DUI checkpoints are used for a lot more intrusive shit than catching drunk drivers.

Example: in Fayettenam NC, there's a road that's McPherson Church Road on one side of Skibo and Yadkin Road on the other side. McPherson Church is restaurant row, so logically the GIs who got fucked up in the bar & grilles on McPherson Church would use Yadkin to get home. So the city, one fine evening, decided to put a DWI checkpoint on Yadkin. Unfortunately, they put it in a place you could see from McPherson Church. The DWI checkpoint issued over 400 tickets, and not one was for DWI. Lots of seat belt, inspection sticker, expired plate and other minor shit.

The possibility of DWI checkpoints is NOT going to stop people from driving drunk. All it does is pulls patrol cars off the road so they can't be out there catching people. In Coeur d'Alene, ID, they don't do checkpoints and they catch probably more drunk drivers than a checkpoint would. Remember, people have cell phones now.

[go west young man]

47. Shouldn't these jokes of senators go back to testing baseball

players for steroids?

[JoeyT]

50. They'll be making another sale real soon now.

I'll be glad to be rid of one more irritant. Even if I have to go ten miles out of my way it'll be faster than waiting for them to get a warrant to search my car.