That's going a bit far. People May use encryption for illegal activities. What possible use does the DUI checkpoint software have, outside of enabling drunk drivers?
Maybe I'm sober and don't want to wait in traffic. Or maybe I'm drunk and don't want a ticket.
The point is that it doesn't really matter. The very first constitutional amendment ensures that the government's power is limited such that it doesn't need to evaluate the content of its citizens' speech.
Which is being stretched pretty thin to include "IPhone App" as "speech". But ok.
Freedom of speech is expressly limited in cases such as hollering "Fire!" in a crowded theatre. How about defeating police efforts to catch murderers? Child molestors? Drunk drivers?
Seems like its not cut-and-dried is all I'm saying.
DUI checkpoints are used as a convenient way to peek inside cars the police would have no cause to pull over under normal circumstances. Then, if they don't like your attitude, they can make up an excuse to turn your car inside out looking for something incriminating.
Avoiding checkpoints if you're sober and don't want the inconvenience of waiting in line at a checkpoint for one. Also see the explanations of other people in this thread describing how announcing the locations of the checkpoints ahead of time can be more effective.
Really? All these sales are to upstanding citizens wanting to save a traffic stop?
Then why isn't the app called "traffic stop"? Its called "Tipsy" or something like that. It covers only DUI traffic stops. Who is this marketing to? Who is buying it? We all know the answer.
Yes, its good to protect freedom of speech. Its also good to make the streets safer. And DUI is a real problem, not a strawman.
The average speed trap doesn't affect traffic (unless you happen to be the person pulled over). DUI checkpoints often have miles of stopped cars waiting to go through.
I see what you're saying, but speed traps definitely cause significant bottlenecks in the DC area, probably because of rubbernecking and braking (or the fact that everyone is speeding).
The same reason it would be nice to know if a traffic-stopping car accident occurred: I would use it for shortening commute times. Why should I wait in line to tell an officer that I'm not doing anything illegal when I haven't been doing anything illegal?
Whatever. There's been more than one time where I was coming home from work at night and after the commute found a DUI checkpoint stationed on the main road right in front of my street. No way I was going to sit through the bullshit waiting just to "prove my innocence" as you seem to imply we all should.
Just like if it were a major, road-blocking accident, the answer for me (and I'm sure many people who were not sober) was U-turn and reroute. There's no reason why law abiding citizens should have to be inconvenienced by these dubiously effective law enforcement efforts, and if there's a tool based on protected free speech that allows us to avoid them, so much the better. LE can catch drunks in other more effective ways that don't inconvenience the law abiding citizenry.
Slightly off topic but still relevant: There's actually legislation in some states that would permit the police to chase you if they see you purposefully trying to evade a DUI checkpoint. It differs by each state(or municipality?), but New Mexico seems to have enacted that:
Nobody is suggesting that drivers should be free to police themselves as far as the legality of the circumstances of their driving. This is simply a matter of freedom of speech -- if you see a police car doing radar on your drive home, and call your friend (after pulling over ;) ) who you know will be driving this way, to warn him, are you breaking any law?
The principle being defended here is that you are free to share that information under the 1st amendment, however the method of sharing may be performed. It's the reason being a member of the KKK or the Westboro Baptist Church and saying hateful things doesn't automatically make you a criminal. Whether you agree with the speech or not shouldn't affect it's possibility to be spoken.
What possible uses does a blog-post explaining your fifth amendment rights have, outside of helping people who have something to hide, hide it from the police?
It's an invariant property of the rule of law that when something isn't explicitly illegal, it's legal. And yes, many "free" western countries do have problems with this.
They do list these stops in most papers and on local TV around the holidays, like someone else commented. Making an app just makes it easier to get the information.
