“U.S. senators wrote a letter this week to Apple, Google and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion seeking the removal of programs that they said provide the locations of DUI checkpoints — and RIM, at least, is quickly complying,” Jennifer Valentino-DeVries blogs for The Wall Street Journal.
“On Tuesday, Democratic senators Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Frank Lautenberg and Tom Udall sent the letter to the smartphone makers, calling the DUI apps ‘harmful to public safety.’ ‘Giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern,’ they wrote,” Valentino-DeVries reports. “The apps in question have names like ‘FuzzAlert’ and ‘Buzzed’ and either maintain a list of DUI checkpoints or ask users to report them when they see them. Some of the apps also maintain information on speed traps and red-light cameras, but those features haven’t drawn the same level of ire.”
Valentino-DeVries reports, “The maker of “FuzzAlert,” Steve Croke, says he didn’t design the app to help people evade DUIs but to let people know where things like red-light cameras and speed traps are. He added information on DUI checkpoints because other apps had it and it publicizes the existence of such checks, he said. ‘I don’t think anybody realistically is going to go into a bar and get smashed and then check my app,’ he said. ‘Is government really allowed to come in and say ‘You can’t do this?’'”
“By Wednesday, the senators reported that RIM had said it would comply with the request and remove the apps, likely within the day,” Valentino-DeVries reports. “‘We appreciate RIM’s immediate reply and urge the other smartphone makers to quickly follow suit,’ the lawmakers said in a press release.”
Full article here.
In an editorial today, The Washington Times writes, “It wasn’t so long ago that ‘Papers, please’ checkpoints could only be found in Eastern European countries under the thumb of the Soviet Union. They were tools of oppression designed to keep the populace in check. In 1990, the Supreme Court decided that such techniques could be used in the United States because of the ‘carnage’ caused by drunk driving – the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures notwithstanding. The advent of smartphones has enabled drivers to note the locations of these stops and dispatch a warning notice to anyone who may be in the vicinity. It’s the digital equivalent of flashing one’s headlights to warn of an upcoming speed trap – a form of free speech as old as the automobile itself.”
“There’s good reason to question the constitutionality and effectiveness of checkpoints,” The Washington Times writes. “Michigan’s highest court outlawed roadblocks under the state constitution. Most other jurisdictions, however, have jumped on the bandwagon because checkpoints bring in big cash. As a typical example, police in Costa Mesa, Calif., gladly accepted federal grants to set up a roadblock on Jan. 7. A total of 1,005 vehicles passed through with two DUI arrests made, which equals a 99.8 percent sobriety rate. The officers confiscated five vehicles and issued 53 tickets for various infractions wholly unrelated to the DUI ‘carnage’ used to justify the stops in the first place.”
The Washington Times writes, “Real drunk drivers deserve severe punishment, but the best way to catch them is to respect the Fourth Amendment. Instead of having cops stand around behind barricades interrogating soccer moms, have them patrol the streets looking for evidence of impaired driving. It works. In the meantime, high-tech companies ought to email these senators a free Constitution app for their smart phones.”
Read more in the full article here.
Asking that quartet of imbeciles to respect the Fourth Amendment — or any part of the U.S. Constitution — is a fool’s errand.
Find another ankle to hump.
Strange, in Belgium they announce the location of the police speed traps on the radio. With great success. Many people who got informed this way really observe the speed limits.
But the finesse of the system lies in the fact that they don’t announce the location of ALL speed traps. So it not only draws the people’s attention to the fact that they might get caught, but incites them to not exceed the speed limit elsewhere.
What about suggesting that the app only produce, say, 80% of the information. That might have a greater overall benefit than just censoring the entire application.
You are, no doubt, referring to W, Cheney, McCain, and Palin. You, of course, are the one on the fool’s errand.
I hate, absolutely hate, democrats and unions. You idiots are going to get voted out in 2012. You don’t seem to realize if you get your way the free market workers will just stop then no one will have a penny and the US will be like every other hell hole out there in this world.
Exactly what part of your rant has anything to do with Apple, Macs, iPhone, etc?
BTW- Quite a number of your teabagger/Republican-in-drag Governors/State Legislators will be recalled because of their obnoxious overreach. Some will get a year due to laws requiring they screw things up for a year first.
Your comrade in chief will be impeached getting the ultimate recall.
Yep, hate pretty well sums up the Republican / Tea-bagger party.
No the liberals are the one that go on the gun shooting, hate filled rampages. Making all kinds of hateful comments about conservatives. Tea Baggers? Give me a break. You losers just want to steal the hard working portion of societies private property. You have no clue how good you have it. Why the hell would you want to destroy the US you sick f*ck.
But it’s OK for Police to ticket people left and right to patch up the budget? Whatever happened to warning tickets?
My four little monkeys are just trying to protect a gov’t revenue stream as always.
RIM idiots already folded (I told them I was gonna switch to an iPhone if they didn’t). Apple and Google will fold in 3… 2…
Hold on now, I gotta go bomb the shit out of some more innocent Libyan women and children without congressional authorization. Even He Who I blame For Everything had congressional authorization for the Afganistan and Iraq actions!
Oh, yeah, don’t forget my hypocrite supporters, Gitmo’s still open for business, suckers!
keep sucking that Koch, dunce. “Innocent Libyan women and children”???? What planet are you on? Quit trolling around here and go cut some public workers’ health benefits, kill some infrastructure investments and gut some more environmental laws so you can save some billionaire another pile in taxes…
keep sucking that Koch, dunce. “Innocent Libyan women and children”???? What planet are you from? Quit trolling your irrelevancies on unrelated topics, and get back to cutting state workers’ health benefits, canceling badly needed infrastructure investments, and gutting more environmental laws so you can save some criminally selfish billionaire another pile in taxes.
Fredo is a clueless, absolute clueless drone. You Commie.
Baked Salmon as been baking for way too long…
Not a Commie, Baked, but a proud, proud American Socialist. As in, I believe in public investment in and ownership of critical economic infrastructure (e.g. roads, bridges), and government action to safeguard public health and safety. Because, see, billionaires and selfish motives either don’t provide such public goods at all, or actually do so much *less* efficiently. And those quality public goods largely make up the difference between developed countries, and places like Sudan…
A disgusting anti-american marxist is more like it. You are sick in the head. There is no free ride. Your brain is damaged.
And now we know why the USA REALLY imploded: they reached they quota for DIsturbingly Stupid People.
Next you are going to tell me that Kadhafi is a nice dude that did nothing wrong and treats his servants, I mean, citizens well…
puke sky mac sucks.
You only wish he would suck… your Willy.
Actually, I retract my stupid comment. I read Willy’s post and, seeing childish speech, felt like mocking him. However, I now see that it was lukeskymac that was being a jerk. Willy, I apologize. He does suck, lol.
Checking apps while driving doesn’t seem like the best idea, anyway. If they’re asking for people not to report the location of any police presence by any means, that doesn’t seem quite fair. The police are allowed to know where we are. Next they’ll be saying we can’t take videos of the police on duty.
If drunks can use an app to evade DUIs, are they really drunk?
good point.
Kinda on the fence on this. on one hand, an app helping you break the law.. other hand, congress telling a company how to do its business..
and what quiviran said above… have to agree.
How is avoiding a check point breaking the law?
driving drunk is against the law.
speeding is against the law.
running a red light is against the law.
app is intended to help drunks, speeders etc avoid checkpoints and show them where they could get caught speeding.
thus, telling them where they can safely break the law. and where they cant.
According to your logic, we should also outlaw radar detectors?
I am adamantly against drunk driving, speeding, and running red lights. My oldest sister was murdered by a drunk driver who doesn’t even remember doing it, and I have had several close calls with reckless drivers and red light runners. But I am not comfortable with the Congressional pressure being applied to censor this app. If anyone should be involved in a matter like this, it is the Supreme Court. This is not a legislative or budget issue.
If people want to share this information, then they should be able to do so. We are heading down a very slippery slope in a big hurry if we support censorship of this type.
Actualy radar detectors ARE illegal in many states.
No they are not and they can drive as well.
Most likely a really drunk person cannot use an app but, it turns out there’s no need to use the app to alert the really drunk about DUIs because you set it up when you are sober (provided you don’t have a rock as brain).
The shortest line between an issue and a TV camera goes thru Chuck Shumer.
Unless it’s rising gas prices during a Democratic Presidency! Then that POS Schumer is nowhere to be found!
Rising gas prices are the best thing that could happen to this country, no matter who the President is. Gas is going the way of whale oil and the faster we are forced to look for alternatives, the better.
You are completely out of your f*cking mind Frito. Screw you and your gas is going the way of whale oil. What the hell is going to replace it Windmills? You are such a little comrade. Do what you’re told, don’t ask questions, global warming cough, save the planet, capitalism is evil, white people are evil, destroy the US, etc, etc, etc. You Marxists are NUTZ!!!!
Thankfully there’s no reason for Apple to pay them any mind. Their tenuous senate majority, as weak as it is, will be wiped out in next year’s election.
“Some of the apps also maintain information on speed traps and red-light cameras, but those features haven’t drawn the same level of ire”
Speed traps, if you live in the area.. you kinda know where they frequent. Same with red lights.
the speed traps dont bother me, DUI stops either really,but the red light cameras…. I avoid them as much as i can. Such BS.
BUT… the DUI stops, should only be a breath test. you pass, you’re on your way.
search my vehicle? get a warrant. there is a reason they are called a DUI stop, not Check to see if there are any infractions stops. the later is where they run into the 4th amendment problems.
Regardless of the Constitution, this is a really dumb request. iPhones are connected to the Internet at all times, and they have the mobile Safari browser. These are just apps that displays web-based information. If the native app is removed from the App Store, someone will create a web-based app (a web page formatted for mobile Safari) that provides the same information, like the current mobile version of MDN. I’ll bet there already is one.
The best way to reduce drunk driving is to actively look for violators, not passively check every single person who drives by a stationary “checkpoint.”
Apple sets itself up for liability by selling these apps. It’s a nice novelty but it should go.
“Fsck the police”
– Steve Jobs
Don’t put words in his mouth. It must secretly kill some of the tea baggers here that Jobs surely voted for Obama. Most of us aging hippies are lefty rebels and believe in equality regardless of gender or sexual preference. An anti-gay app is offensive; letting DWI’ers bypass the police is also. I must admit that, as a long-time anarchist, I’d normally say f*** the Man, but I’d love to personally arrest those who text while driving, also.
Obama’s position on “gay marriage” is exactly the same as McCain’s, Palin’s, and Biden’s.
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/18884/
You’re turning conservative you jack effing jack ass. Don’t worry Maobamma will come after Steve Jobs and Apple Too. If he isn’t impeached first.
You don’t want the man hassling you, but you really want to go around arresting other people? So you hate the man, but you would jump at an opportunity to become the man? Logic is not one of your strong points.
Your comment makes you sound like a moronic left winger, but I don’t believe it. You sound too stereotypically left wing and too idiotic to be believable. I think you are probably a right winger trying to make liberals look bad. Unless you are such a fool that you have become a parody of yourself.
It is “Democrat senators” and not “Democratic senators”. There is nothing democratic about a party that runs away from their state so they can thwart the democratic process. First Texas and them Wisconsin. These people are disgusting. And their other favorite method to advance their policies? Unelected unaccountable judges. And there is no comparison between fleeing the state and the filibuster which is an accepted way of slowing the legislative proces…
Sure and while your at it pulling this app let’s pull all DUI protection for Senators and Representatives getting stopped and courtesy released even if under the influence of, not special interest groups, but alcohol! Equal treatment under the law please! I think percentage wise there are more elected drunks in Congress than in the general population.
this is funny, i just opened Appshopper on my ipad… Popular apps… Trapster is at the top lol.
some are a little worried that congress may be able to pull the app i see.
“checkpoints bring in big cash”
And that’s ALL it’s really about; extorting a small ultimately payable amount from a segment of the population so they can fill their pockets under a false assertion they’re saving the public.
Around here speed traps are always set up at the bottom of hills in places where no accidents ever happen. They block the roads at rush hour, wait to see stopped drivers grab a cell phone to say they’ll be late, and then ticket them. Lately they’ve begun putting up roadblocks for no specified reason, not a breathalyzer in sight.
Haven’t seen a ghost car pull over a vehicle in decades. In fact I don’t know anyone who has received and infraction other than speeding. But hey, there’s no fine for an illegal lane change or tailgating, is there?!
You are using the Washington Times as a credible, quotable source? Do you understand what kind of paper it is? Are you at all familiar with its history or agenda?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Times
Anyone who objects to the DUI checkpoints hasn’t experienced an alcohol-related accident. Have you ever been through a checkpoint? If you aren’t drunk you have no worries.
despicable….
Anyone who ISN’T opposed to the DUI checkpoints has never been waved over and had to wait for almost 2 hours in a parking lot waiting to be checked out and cleared.
Not drunk no worries? Bullshit. Halloween night at 9pm my wife and I were trying to get home, waived into a parking lot, waited 2 hours. Nope, not drunk, just delayed with our plans and needs shot to hell.
Another time, my son was returning from work, waived over into a parking lot, forced to wait and have his car searched, took 1.5 hours. Nothing illegal, not drunk.
DUI checkpoints are ridiculous and ignore the entire innocent until proven guilty concept. If the cops were interested in safety instead of fund raising go do checks outside of bars or something
Out of interest, WHY did it take almost 2 hours until you were breathalyzed?
Surely, that is not the average time of a breath test in America, here in NSW, Australia it takes about 5 mins, if you are legal, after having spoken or exhaled into a gadget.
The police are on a road and will pull over, say, six cars and an officer will go to each car and start the test, if your blood alcohol content is good and you are legal, off you go … happy.
If you are not legal then it’s going to take longer … and you will have to walk away.
I’m happy for the police to filter out the drink drivers, a lot of people are shit drivers when they are sober!
Skylark,
In my area, the cops setup the road block, funnel everyone into a huge parking lot, and take their dear sweet time getting around to check each car. BTW, no breathalyzer, just a battery of questions. I guess they observe your reactions, smell for alcohol, or maybe look for open containers.
DUI checkpoint apps would have helped me avoid a needless waste of my time.
While I’m not against dui checkpoints, having been t-boned going through an intersection by a drunk driver years ago, the check points can be time consuming. I waited 1/2 an hour a month ago in one, and have waited longer than that in the past.
But… if it prevents me from having to see a dr. pull glass out of my wife’s scalp again, I’m fine with that.
I don’t see what the big deal about an app is…. After my 2 hour delay experience, I was told by several people that the radio had been playing PSAs for 2 days before telling where and when the DUI point was happening.
Damn Steve Jobs Apple, and the iPod that I listen to instead of the radio. The VERY LEAST Apple can do to repay me for my lost time time is give me an app to track them with since it was their damn iPod that made me quit listening to the radio
Seriously, what is the harm of an app if its on the radio anyway?
Bullcrap. I’ve lost 2 close family members to drunk drivers and been hit by a drunk driver myself.
I still say DUI checkpoints are wrong and should be tossed in the trash.
Its wrong for the police to stop innocent people for no reason.
WTF is wrong with this country?
Land of the free and home of the brave?
More like land of the nannies and home of the weak if you ask me.
Just bought the app. Thanks for the heads up. Finally got something good from our elected officials.
LOL. Washington Times? That’s the best you could come up with MDN? Might as well be citing Fox News.
actually its everywhere, the times prob just had it pop up first in MDN’s radar.
and oh yeah, scroll up…. the FIRST article they linked, WSJ.com
ignore them….
Like this is the most important thing they have to worry about?
What about fixing the budget before this country goes broke? How about taking care of social security, medicare, getting medical costs under control, getting rid of ObamaCare?
I think things like apps for avoiding police checkpoints should be something they worry about after they take care of the real business in Washington.
Apple has caved twice now to political pressure. They have sent a message and the leftists have heard it loud and clear. All you have to do to get your way at Apple is to whine loud enough and long enough.
Nice going, Tim Cook!
The Washington state Legislature is on the verge of enacting a law that would allow the installation of cameras on school buses to supposedly catch motorists who ignore flashing red lights. Strong bipartisan support has been displayed thus far, proving that there are as many, probably more, dumbass Republicans as Democrats. The Republican Party has demonstrated that it is willing to restrict civil rights in far more insidious ways than with DUI checkpoints, and it should be noted that such checkpoints are much more common in the Bible Belt south. The app is a dumb idea, and asking for its removal ain’t so smart, either. Ending George Bush’s wars is a much better use of Congress’s time.
These morons can’t even pass a budget and yet they worry about what Apple sells in the App Store.
I am for keeping the app. Little by little we have given our police to much power. This was done by both political parties. Some with good intentions, stoping drugs, DUI, etc. However they have become more militant and less about protecting and serving. I have a lot of respect for cops, they have a dangerous job. However there needs to be checks on their power.
I wonder how many people here were in favor of the Arizona police being able to check anyone they believed to be illegal aliens. They did not have to brake a law to be pulled over, just look like they were. Was that OK because it was Republican? Would you be against an app that helped people avoid those police traps? However Democrats want these apps to be removed so it must be a government takeover?
I am a Democrat, and I think this is crazy. It is funny that the first to cave to a few US politicians is Canadian.
On side note: The Florida Supreme Court has now ruled that the only approved breathalyzer is untrustworthy. If the manufacture does not provide their code, and they have not, then over a decade of DUI cases may be overturned.
@Dafuser
Do you even know what ObamaCare is? If you look it up it is a mostly sensible regulation that is pretty watered down and doesn’t go far enough. It has requirements that Insurance Companies can’t drop you after you get sick. It requires that Children can’t be excluded from getting insurance because of Pre-existing conditions (which isn’t far enough because it should apply to everyone).
It allows me to keep my daughter on my Family Insurance plan until she is 26 and not be forced to drop her as soon as she graduates high school unless I prove she is in College. I guess if she doesn’t have the money for College, she doesn’t deserve Medical insurance either.
You want to go back to that?
Most people I have met who oppose “ObamaCare” don’t even know what it is or work on a stable job with company provided medical insurance and haven’t got a clue.
I bet you just go to the doctor and wave your company provided Blue Cross / Blue Shield card, and then complain “ObamaCare, who needs it!”.
I have already seen a co-worker change his tune when he lost his job and his Medical Insurance for his family at the same time. I’ve been there too. I’m a programmer, doing well, own several Macs and a true Mac FanBoy, but I was also unemployed for a year in 2002. I had on insurance for my family and just got lucky! Until that day I was like everyone else. Paid well and just waved my company provided Medical Insurance.
Anyone opposed to healthcare reform, may some day wake up on “the other side” watching their kids dying from lack of insurance and be forced to confront the words they write right here.
How would that feel? Watching your kids die, and still being able to google your own words opposing healthcare reform?
Well said, SouthRoad. What the right-wing has tried to vilify as “Obamacare” was an absolutely necessary piece of legislation meant to patch a glaring hole, namely, the lack of affordable healthcare for the WORKING poor, while the middle class, upper class, and UNEMPLOYED poor had access to it through their employers and Medicare/Medicaid. The only people I have met that were against it did not realize this basic and simple concept, and once informed, basically said “Yeah, I see the need for it now”. I think the ones who are still against it only get their information from sources that push the right-wing agenda. I wonder if perhaps it could have been sold a little better to the American public. I also wonder how many people that were against Social Security back in the day are for it now, especially if it’s the only source of income they have left. I know my grandfather is one of them.
@Georgia Bill:
I’d advise you to read my response to SouthRoad a little later in the forum. You too, have drank the Kool-Aid ™. Please review the history of healthcare in this country. This bill fixes NOTHING! It only propagates the ‘bad habits’ that we’ve grown so accustomed to over the decades. In fact, it’s no different than Hillary-care, point by point. I’d be happy to send you some information if you’d like, including a presentation that I recently gave detailing the history (in Keynote of course!).
The only people who like Social Security are those that are benefitting from Social Security, as is the case with entitlements in general.
Sure, why not? I always welcome opposing viewpoints as long as the discussion stays civil. I’ll follow up later in the afternoon, thanks.
Terrific! I’ll post a few items for you to have a look at, including my most recent presentation. If you’re really interested in learning more, a great book is ‘Redefining Healthcare’, Porter et al. It’s a very dry read, but the first 3 chapters or so will give you a great background.
https://public.me.com/jdougherty
Under ‘Healthcare Information’- documents include very brief review of the law, ACOG’s response, and a presentation.
Forgot to mention- the presentation was geared towards a grand rounds with residents, and what to expect when they get out of residency, so you can ignore those parts of it.
Social Security is not Entitlement. It is FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) which means we have all been paying every month of every year we work. Are Life Insurance premiums and payouts “entitlements” too?
If you are here reading MDN, then you are likely smart, wealthy (by world standards) and employed. You have extra cash to buy Apple gadgets.
Maybe none of us do enough for society. Instead of always fighting against paying for “entitlements”, maybe half the time we should be asking ourselves “do I do enough?”.
If I asked myself that question more often, I would probably have to admit “no”. Maybe I am just as greedy as the rest of you.
The argument “I work hard for a living and so should they” doesn’t work for me. I am successful because I was lucky enough to be born here in America. If I were born with the same genes, in a different place in a different time, I may not be as proud of “my accomplishments” no matter how hard I tried.
Let’s stop giving “ourselves” too much credit, for being lucky and remember luck can change. I wasn’t so smart and clever the year I was unemployed was I ? My company shut down and let us all go through no fault of my own– all of a sudden I became one of those “stupid and lazy ones”. You know, the ones that don’t deserve medical care for myself and my family.
We are all LUCKY to be right here reading MDN and don’t forget it. At this very moment, some person in this country who thought healthcare reform was a bad idea yesterday, is saying it didn’t go far enough today.
I don’t know who that person is, but you and I all know I am right and you know that person exists today. Can you imagine a scenario that can wipe you out? Maybe some little thing your “smart” brains hasn’t accounted for? Maybe your brilliant mind hasn’t got a plan for when you get cancer, can’t work, and lose your medical coverage?
Maybe you have money for COBRA but after 18 months of cancer treatment you get dropped and no insurance company will pick you up because of “pre-existing conditions”? Or maybe the 18 months of treatment wiped you out and you couldn’t afford insurance anyway even if some insurance company were dumb enough to pick you up–and now you daughter is sick too!
Does your smart brain have a plan for that too? If you don’t, and you are not thinking of reforming the healthcare system to cover YOU and YOUR family during catastrophic failures such as this, then you are not as bright as you think you are.
I’ll close by saying, lets all enjoy reading MDN whether we are Republican or Democrat, but please, let’s not forget how lucky we are, and let’s not forget the unfortunate ones, because tomorrow, it just may be one of us!
This is what happens when you let emotions get in the way of reason and logic.
Entitlements: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entitlement
“An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation.” Life insurance is not an entitlement- it’s optional.
You really do need to review your history RE: healthcare in this country. The only thing political about this whole reform effort is the bill itself, unfortunately. You may also have a look at some of the information that I’ve posted for Georgia Bill if you’re interested. We may be able to have a civil conversation after that, without comments like “you are not as bright as you think you are”. Trust me, I know a lot more about this than you do- I live it every day.