Mobile app developers protested the banning of apps that show...
Mobile app developers protested the banning of apps that show the location of police DUI traps. Research In Motion blocked apps last week at the request of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and two other…
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Democratic senators (CD March 24 p10) . In a letter Monday to Schumer, Association for Competitive Technology President Jonathan Zuck urged lawmakers to “proceed slowly and consider the implications to the mobile apps ecosystem when regulation and rule of law are abandoned and apps are pulled by government fiat.” Law enforcement bodies are legally required to publish speed-trap data contained in the apps, and “they believe that widespread dissemination of this information effectively serves to reduce speeding and improve traffic safety,” Zuck said. App developers fear that banning the traffic apps could lead to prohibition of other apps that mix government and user-provided information. “What is to stop another member of Congress from demanding the removal of Facebook, Twitter or any number of forums or public discussion sites?” asked Zuck. The plea by ACT failed to win over Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who co-signed the original Senate letter. “We should be utilizing technology to stop drunk[en] driving, not make it easier,” Udall said Monday in a written response. “The apps “are realistically only going to help one person: the driver who has had too much to drink.”