UPDATE: Research in Motion, manufacturer of Blackberry smartphones, will remove from their online store applications that help drunk drivers evade police. See more details below.
Some U.S. senators don't blame accidents and loss of life on just the alcohol, but also on apps like PhantomALERT, which gives audio warnings to inebriated and buzzed drivers when DUI checkpoints are on their driving route.
A Democrat-dominated quartet of senators — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nevada), Chuck Schumer (New York), Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey) and Tom Udall (New Mexico) — released a letter Tuesday that went after the makers of the most popular mobile operating systems (Apple, Android and BlackBerry) to remove apps that help motorists evade DUI checkpoints.
On the receiving end of that letter: Google chief executive Eric Schmidt; Scott Forstall, senior vice president for iPhone Software; and Research in Motion co-chief executive officers James Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis.
The letter launches right away into their concerns and strong demand:
We write today with grave concern regarding the ease with which downloadable applications for the iPhone, iPad, and other Apple products allow customers to identify where local police officers have set up DUI checkpoints. With more than 10,000 Americans dying in drunk-driving crashes every year, providing access to iPhone and iPad applications that alert users to DUI checkpoints is harmful to public safety.
We know that your company shares our desire to end the scourge of drunk driving and we therefore would ask you to remove these applications from your store.
RIM has already complied with the senators' request.
In a press release sent by the Democratic Policy and Communications Center, the senators lauded the quick response.
"Drunk drivers will soon have one less tool to evade law enforcement and endanger our friends and families ... We appreciate RIM’s immediate reply and urge the other smartphone makers to quickly follow suit."
They reiterated their call to action for the other smartphone makers to target applications "that pinpoint police enforcement zones through user-submitted information that connects to GPS data, providing drivers with the ability to evade DUI checkpoints, speed traps, and red light cameras. The applications are free or inexpensive to download from application stores."
While no particular apps are named in the letter, the senators do mention "one application, your company acknowledges in the product description, contains a database of DUI checkpoints updated in real-time" and another, "with more than 10 million users, also allows users to alert each other to DUI checkpoints in real time."
On Android Market, pulling up PhantomALERT yields this description: "Largest driver generated and verified database of speed traps, red light cameras, speed cameras, school zones, DUI checkpoints + dangerous intersections." Which certainly sounds like the kind of app the senators have in their sights. It has been installed between 100,000 and 500,000 times, according to Android Market stats. On the PhantomALERT website, videos like this can be found that promote the DUI checkpoints feature:
In the senators' letter, they say that such apps encourage bad behavior.
Police officers from across the country have voiced concern about these products, with one police captain saying, "If people are going to use those, what other purpose are they going to use them for except to drink and drive?" With a person dying every 50 minutes in a drunk-driving crash, this technology should not be promoted to your customers — in fact, it shouldn’t even be available.
PhantomALERT told Computerworld that the senators are missing the benefits of the service.
"I think this is a knee-jerk reaction," said Joe Scott, the CEO OF PhantomALERT. "PhantomALERT is a 100% legal service. If they really understood what we are doing and aim to achieve they would actually support us."
Scott argued that his company's app was doing little more than broadcasting the information distributed by the police themselves.
"Many police departments promote or advertise DUI [driving under the influence] crackdowns through the media as PSAs or through PR," Scott said. "We are just taking it a bit further and pushing the info to drivers through GPS and smart phone technology. The idea is to deter drivers from drinking and driving. When drivers get alerts for DUI checkpoints on their smart phones and GPS, they will think twice about drinking and driving."
But what if they're already driving while drunk? Seems like this would be one way for those drivers, in their tipsy state, to "evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk," wrote the senators.
CNET posted the full text of the letter.
When searching for "checkpoints" and "DUI" under Android Market, only a few apps come up that seem focused on getting around the long arm of the law: Checkpoint Wingman and its free, "lite" version (which contains "a National Database of user uploaded DUI Checkpoints. See all entered Checkpoints anywhere within the US via your GPS location.") and the "entertainment purposes only" Mr. DUI.
More stories:
- Facebook shaming for drunk drivers voted down
- Sobriety Test attempts to curb drunk Facebooking
- Survey: Teens think drunk driving more risky than texting
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