Mobile Developers Protest Banning of DUI Trap App

摘要

Mobile app developers protested the banning of apps that show the location of police DUI ntraps. Research In Motion blocked apps last week at the request of Senate Majority Leader nHarry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and two other Democratic senators. In a nletter Monday to Schumer, Association for Competitive Technology President Jonathan Zuck nurged lawmakers to “proceed slowly and consider the implications to the mobile apps necosystem when regulation and rule of law are abandoned and apps are pulled by government nfiat." Law enforcement bodies are legally required to publish speed-trap data contained in the napps, and “they believe that widespread dissemination of this information effectively serves to nreduce speeding and improve traffic safety,” Zuck said. App developers fear that banning the ntraffic apps could lead to prohibition of other apps that mix government and user-provided ninformation. “What is to stop another member of Congress from demanding the removal of nFacebook, Twitter or any number of forums or public discussion sites?” asked Zuck. The plea nby ACT failed to win over Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who co-signed the original Senate nletter. “We should be utilizing technology to stop drunk[en] driving, not make it easier,” Udall nsaid Monday in a written response. The apps “are realistically only going to help one nperson: the driver who has had too much to drink."