Senators Want DUI Applications Removed From Smartphones

Four Democratic United States senators seek the elimination of applications for mobile devices that warn drunk drivers about the locations of law enforcement checkpoints.

2011-05-20

May 20, 2011 (Press-News.org) In March, four Democratic U.S. Senators, Harry Reid, D-Utah, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., drafted a letter requesting that Apple, Google and Research in Motion (or RIM) eliminate the applications (user-friendly computer programs for specific tasks) on mobile communication devices that warn drivers of the locations of drunk-driving checkpoints.

The next day, RIM, the manufacturer of the BlackBerry agreed to the removal of driving-under-the-influence (DUI/DWI) checkpoint functionality on its BlackBerry devices.

Google later responded that it did not remove apps for any reason other than violations of the Android content policies.

Apple did not issue a public response to the request.

PhantomALERT Checkpointer Mr. DUI Buzzed Fuzz Alert

These apps, which work on smartphones and most GPS devices, provide alerts to warn drivers of impending speed traps, red-light cameras, railroad crossings and school zones.

Many of the programs use reports from other drivers to maintain the currency of the information. The DUI/DWIcheckpoint warnings, however, sparked the interest of the senators who noted in their letter to the tech companies:

"We appreciate the technology that has allowed millions of Americans to have information at their fingertips, but giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern. We hope that you will give our request to make these applications unavailable immediate consideration."

Are All of These Apps Bad?

The USA Today story that first brought the apps to the attention of the senators, mentions that not all law enforcement sees these warnings as a bad thing. USA Today quotes Officer Brian Walters from Virginia Beach, Va., who is responsible for the city's red-light camera program, felt the applications might be helpful: "I'm all for them," he says.

"A couple of GPS companies have sent me requests to verify and validate where our cameras are. I helped them." He says the devices and apps make drivers more aware while driving. "If that's what gets them to comply, that's fine," he says.

The story also quotes a driver who thinks using his GPS with the PhantomAlert app makes him a better driver because the alerts force him to pay better attention to his driving and his surroundings.

Article provided by Max A. Keller Atty. at Law
Visit us at www.kellerlawoffices.com

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

What Causes the Metal Skin on an Airliner to Tear Apart?

2011-05-20

On Friday, April 1, 2011, a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 experienced a rapid decompression when the metal fuselage skin tore apart, leaving a 5X1 foot hole. This kind of event is rare, but can, and has been, catastrophic when it does occur. In 1988, another Boeing 737, a 200 model, experienced a similar, but much worse, event over Hawaii. In that case, the skin on the entire front section of the aircraft cabin was denuded, leaving the passengers sitting in the first several rows completely exposed, with the aircraft being held together by two metal spars running ...

Of frogs, chickens and people

2011-05-20

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have uncovered new details of an unusual biological mechanism in the brains of diverse species that not only helps regulate how their brains develop, but also how they function later in life. The discovery could lead to new biomarkers for specific neurological diseases in humans and, possibly, the development of drugs to cure them. The research, by Miles F. Wilkinson, PhD, professor of reproductive medicine and a member of the UCSD Institute for Genomic Medicine, and colleagues, is published in ...

Preparing for a Prenuptial Agreement

2011-05-20

Thinking about, let alone preparing for, divorce before you are even married is not what most of us want to do. Whether we believe that divorce will never happen to us or whether we just choose to ignore the possibility, the fact remains that almost half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. One way to enter into a marriage prepared for all outcomes is to create a prenuptial agreement. Creating this agreement doesn't mean that your marriage will eventually come to an end. Rather, creating a prenuptial agreement is just a way for you and your spouse to ...

Looking deep into a huge storm on Saturn

2011-05-20

The atmosphere of the planet Saturn normally appears placid and calm. But about once per Saturn year (about thirty Earth years), as spring comes to the northern hemisphere of the giant planet, something stirs deep below the clouds that leads to a dramatic planet-wide disturbance (eso9014 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso9014/). The latest such storm was first detected by the radio and plasma wave science instrument on NASA's Cassini spacecraft [1], in orbit around the planet, and also tracked by amateur astronomers in December 2010. It has now been studied in detail ...

Supreme Court Seems to Give Prosecutors Free Pass to Win at All Costs

2011-05-20

A recent opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court in Connick v. Thompson seems to give prosecutors a free pass to win at all costs. The opinion overlooks a pattern of misconduct by prosecutors in cases against John Thompson, who was almost executed before he was exonerated and set free. Thompson's experience demonstrates the need for capable legal counsel to fight against any prosecutorial misconduct when facing criminal charges. Connick v. Thompson In 1984, John Thompson was convicted of armed robbery in Louisiana. In 1985, Thompson was also tried and found guilty of ...

Unmarried Fathers Have Rights, Too

2011-05-20

If you and your child's mother are not married when the child is born, you may feel like a second-class citizen. You probably think that your rights are completely contingent upon the whims of your child's mother. You may be afraid that you could lose the ability to live with or visit your child. Fortunately, though, Michigan laws recognize that you have rights when it comes to your children. The laws make it possible for you to be legally listed as the child's father, to make a claim for custody or visitation and to have the ability to make decisions about how your child ...

Editing scrambled genes in human stem cells may help realize the promise of stem cell-gene therapy

2011-05-20

LA JOLLA, CA—In principle, genetic engineering is simple, but in practice, replacing a faulty gene with a healthy copy is anything but. Using mutated versions of the lamin A gene as an example to demonstrate the versatility of their virus-based approach, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies successfully edited a diseased gene in patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells as well as adult stem cells. The study, which will be published in the June 3, 2011 issue of Cell Stem Cell but are already available online, demonstrates that the gene-editing ...

Researchers uncover a new level of genetic diversity in human RNA sequences

2011-05-20

A detailed comparison of DNA and RNA in human cells has uncovered a surprising number of cases where the corresponding sequences are not, as has long been assumed, identical. The RNA-DNA differences generate proteins that do not precisely match the genes that encode them. The finding, published May 19, 2011, in Science Express, suggests that unknown cellular processes are acting on RNA to generate a sequence that is not an exact replica of the DNA from which it is copied. Vivian Cheung, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator who led the study, says the RNA-DNA ...

DNA repair system affects colon cancer recurrence and survival

2011-05-20

Colorectal cancer patients with defects in mismatch repair--one of the body's systems for repairing DNA damage--have lower recurrence rates and better survival rates than patients without such defects, according to a study published online May 19th in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. About 15% of colorectal cancers are associated with mismatch repair defects. Some defects are caused by the inherited gene mutations found in Lynch syndrome and others occur by chance, or "sporadically." But it has never been clear whether mismatch repair defects are linked to ...

Cruise Amour Leads the Way in Website Security

2011-05-20

Cruise Amour has shown its commitment to customer security by being the first UK agency to adopt site-wide security measures. Barely a week goes by without a report that another "big-name" company has had its on-line security compromised or has failed to properly protect its customer's data. Although the travel industry has by chance managed to avoid such pitfalls, Cruise Amour has taken the pro-active step of introducing additional industry leading security measures. Managing director Tim Hurrell, commented on the new security measures: "Let's be clear, ...

Senators Want DUI Applications Removed From Smartphones

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: