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Apple has added verbiage to the App Store Review Guidelines banning DUI checkpoint apps. Presumably, the changed guidelines are in response to letters from four Democratic U.S. senators sent to Apple earlier this year. The letters requested Apple remove apps that provide "a database of DUI [driving under the influence] checkpoints updated in real-time". The Senators considered the checkpoint apps "a matter of public concern."
Section 22.8 of the updated App Store Review Guidelines reads:
Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected.
Some law enforcement agencies publish where DUI checkpoints will be located ahead of time, and these notices have been exempted from the ban.
As we noted when the senators sent their letter, many of the apps in question also offer information on speed traps, red light and speed cameras, accidents, and other traffic conditions, several of which have also been considered controversial. However, the new Guidelines only mention DUI checkpoints.
Top Rated Comments
I have. This app does nothing to stop anyone from driving drunk. Check points don't cover the entire drive of a drunk, just one portion of it.
You actually think most mac rumors users are smart enough to read the article before opening their mouths? :P
Apps which use data published by police departments are EXEMPTED from the ban. It says so right in this article.
Are people so trigger happy about bashing Apple that they cant even read the article they are bashing them about?
This has nothing to do with drunk driving. It's about a citizen's right to share information about when and where the state is conducting searches without probable cause. If we are going to be surveilled and searched without probable cause, we should be able to share information on where that is occurring.
The real travesty is that Apple caved to the government thugs.