duis

How Facebook and Twitter mess with DUI checkpoints

The police are sometimes accused of linear thinking, especially when it comes to DUI checkpoints.

They set them up on Friday and Saturday nights. They redouble their efforts on New Year's Eve.

Perhaps the finest example would was one police force in the wine country of Northern California that decided to put a DUI checkpoint at the bottom of a winery's driveway. Yes, on barrel-tasting day.

The police now have a stronger enemy in the people -- the people who are using social media to warn others that this particular Friday or Saturday night has been selected for … Read more

Apple bans DUI checkpoint apps on iOS devices

No, there won't be an app for this.

If you're thrilled about Apple's iCloud announcement this week, don't drink to it yet. Apple has just updated its App Store Review Guidelines, in which it now explicitly bans the implementation of driving under the influence (DUI) checkpoints in apps for iOS-based devices.

Section 22.8 of the updated guidelines clearly states that "apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law enforcement agencies, or encourage and enable drunk driving, will be rejected."

This new development is likely Apple's response to the call … Read more

Maker of driving app miffed at RIM's takedown

The maker of a controversial mobile app that critics contend helps drunken drivers avoid police says his company is getting a raw deal from politicians and app marketplaces.

Up until last week, driving-alerts application PhantomAlert had been available on Research In Motion's BlackBerry App World. PhantomAlert CEO Joe Scott is miffed that the software has been taken down by RIM, in a decision that was not shared with him.

"It's just sad, we never got contacted by the senators or anyone else," Scott said in an interview with CNET this morning. "We're more than … Read more

RIM says it will pull drunken-driving apps

Following yesterday's letter from four U.S. senators that asked Apple, Google, and Research In Motion to remove applications that could help drunken drivers evade police checkpoints and other law enforcement efforts, RIM has agreed to the request, saying such applications will soon be removed from its BlackBerry App World.

"RIM's decision to remove these apps from their online store proves that when it comes to drunk driving, there should not be an app for that," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement this morning.

Schumer had been joined in the effort by … Read more

U.S. senators ask Apple to pull police-evasion apps

A group of U.S. senators is calling on Apple to remove applications that alert users to the presence of police and other law enforcement checkpoints that have been set up to combat drunk driving.

U.S. Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are named as senders in the letter, which is addressed to Apple's senior vice president of iPhone software, Scott Forstall. No specific applications are named, but the letter highlights apps that "contain a database of DUI [driving under the influence] checkpoints updated in … Read more

Paris 2.0: An online plea for sympathy

Oh, goodness.

Paris Hilton, socialite, sometimes actress, singer and heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune, is using the Web to dig up a get-out-of-jail-free card.

PC World reports that a link to this online petition has been posted to her MySpace page. The petition urges California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon the socialite, who was recently sentenced to 45 days in jail for driving with a suspended license. She has been ordered to report to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, Calif., on June 5.

It's not clear who the source of the petition is, and to describe … Read more

Top 5 names for the alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet

A Colorado company called Alcohol Monitoring System has created an ankle bracelet that weighs only half a pound and makes hourly BAC checks. According to Gizmowatch, 4,000 people are already wearing these bracelets, one of whom may or may not be your cranky, Jim Beam-loving neighbor. This way, authorities can keep tabs on repeat offenders and make sure they aren't getting behind any steering wheels. It's being used as part of a program that goes by the fantastic acronym of SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring).

But there's one thing this gadget's missing: a cool … Read more