Groups defend drunk-driving checkpoint software

23.03.2011
Makers of applications that locate drunk-driving checkpoints are misunderstood, defenders said Wednesday, a day after four U.S. senators called for smartphone makers to pull applications from their services.

The applications do more than identify drunk-driving checkpoints set up by police, and the DUI (driving under the influence) checkpoint functionality actually aids police, said Joe Scott, CEO and founder of PhantomALERT, one of the companies targeted by the senators.

"They're misjudging us," Scott said Wednesday. "It's a safety tool. It's approved by a . How is that we're being sanctioned? It just doesn't make sense."

When users of PhantomALERT report DUI checkpoints, it often appears to users that there are more checkpoints than actually exist, Scott said. The result is the app "deters people from drinking and driving," he added. "We're like a force multiplier for them."

The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), a Washington, D.C., trade group, also from Senators Harry Reid of Nevada, Charles Schumer of New York, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Tom Udall of New Mexico. The four Democrats to smartphone software vendors Apple, Google and Research In Motion Tuesday, asking them to stop selling DUI checkpoint apps.

The letter didn't name the DUI checkpoint software, but PhantomALERT was one of several companies targeted, a Senate spokeswoman said. Similar software includes Cobra's iRadar, Trapster and Fuzz Alert.