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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
(View all)You'd likely change your mind if you suffered the loss of a loved one as the result of drunk driving.
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.
Note that the guidelines only prohibit listing DUI checkpoints that are NOT published by the police force. It would seem this only bans user-reported checkpoint entry...
You actually think most mac rumors users are smart enough to read the article before opening their mouths? :P
Stupid. The information that these apps had were given IN ADVANCE by the local police departments!
Why don't these Senetors spend their energy on fixing unemployment and out of control spending.
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?
Who else, but someone breaking the law, would download this app?
Me. I don't drink. I do work til 11pm to 1am most nights. Running into checkpoints and sitting in a line for an hour while the police look for drunks? Okay. But every single night when I've just worked a 16-18hr day? No thank you.You'd likely change your mind if you suffered the loss of a loved one as the result of drunk driving.
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.