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AG wants ban on smartphone apps

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Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden and Maryland General Douglas Gansler have called on Google and Apple to ban smartphone applications that help users avoid drunk-driving checkpoints. The applications, currently available for download for Apple iPhone and Google Android phones, provide the locations of police checkpoints and allow users to report checkpoints to others.

"I'm deeply concerned that these smartphone applications reduce our ability to get impaired drivers off the streets and protect our families from the tragic consequences of drinking and driving," Biden said. "Automobiles with drunk drivers behind the wheel are deadly weapons. We are urging Apple and Google to do the right thing and join us in keeping drunk drivers off our roads, not provide them with a road map to avoid checkpoints that are meant to protect our families."

In a letter sent March 25 to Apple's senior vice president for iPhone software and the chief executive officer of Google, Biden and Gansler call on the companies to take the responsible step of removing these applications.





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