Senator to Apple, Google: why are DUI checkpoint apps still available?

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) took his allotted five minutes during Thursday's US Senate hearing on mobile privacy to lambaste Apple and Google for not removing DUI checkpoint apps from their respective stores. Udall was one of four US Senators that sent letters to Apple, Google, and RIM in late March of this year asking those companies to remove such apps in the interest of public safety.

Apps such as DUI Dodger, Buzzed, Checkpoint Wingman, and PhantomALERT allow users to  locate DUI checkpoints on a map or receive alerts when checkpoints are noted in their area. Some even suggest alternate routes, according to Udall. An iOS app called Checkpointer advertises on the App Store that it can save you "thousands of dollars by helping you avoid an arrest for a DUI."

While RIM quickly removed such apps at the behest of Udall and his colleagues, Apple and Google are still apparently reviewing the situation. Novelli stated that Apple "abhors drunk driving" and does not want to support it. But, she said, there are differences in opinion on whether advertising where checkpoints are is inherently good or bad.

"Isn't what these apps are doing is encouraging people to break the law?" Udall asked. Udall, along with Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Harry Reid (D-NV), Charles Schumer (D-NY), had called such apps "harmful to public safety."

Novelli said that there are some apps which offer to call a local cab company for the user, for instance, which could be viewed as a net positive. "We are reviewing the situation and determining the best course of action in a thoughtful manner," she said.

Google's Davidson simply noted that apps that merely share information don't violate the Android Marketplace policy "at this time."

Schumer had taken the same tack at last week's location tracking hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. Apple and Google both said they were "looking into" the matter.

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