With the spiraling deficit looking to cause a massive economic catastrophe it’s nice to see our “representatives” can find time out of their busy schedule to deal with the most important issues:
Four U.S. senators Tuesday called on Apple to yank iPhone and iPad apps that help drunken drivers evade police, saying the programs are “harmful to public safety.”
Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Tom Udall (D-NM) asked Scott Forstall, the head of Apple’s iPhone software group, to pull an unspecified number of apps from the company’s App Store. The senators also made similar requests of Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt and Research in Motion’s (RIM) co-CEOs, James Balsillie and Michael Lazaridis.
Yup instead of dealing with real issues they’re taking time whining about applications available for phones. Do we even know if these applications work? Has a drunk driver been able to evade arrest because of this application? These things should be answered before time paid for by tax payers is taken up by “representatives” to bitch about such applications.
I guess these “representatives” will also have to go after the police as they often advertise these checkpoints:
“Many police departments promote or advertise DUI [driving under the influence] crackdowns through the media as PSAs or through PR,” Scott said. “We are just taking it a bit further and pushing the info to drivers through GPS and smart phone technology. The idea is to deter drivers from drinking and driving. When drivers get alerts for DUI checkpoints on their smart phones and GPS, they will think twice about drinking and driving.”
I generally don’t drink even when I’m at home, but I do have an app on my phone that might fit this description. (It’s very helpful when one is inclined to drive at a safe speed, rather than a strictly legal one…) All I can say is, if the driver has enough motor coordination to use it, he’s probably not actually impaired.