Apple removes checkpoint app
Thursday, June 9th, 2011Apple has removed some checkpoint location apps from its stores, at the request of representatives from the State.
Apple have the right of property over their servers and service, and so they can refuse to host anything they like. These actions over time will in the end however, move developers away from their great platform and onto other platforms that are not controlled by a central authority, or that are run by people who understand that it only takes a click to find another tool that does what you want somewhere else.
For example, a ‘checkpoint avoiding app’ can be created with Upingme in a matter of minutes.
Lets say you live in a place where checkpoints are a problem, and you and your friends want to avoid them for whatever reason.
All you need to do is create a Upingme post like this:
Ruritania Chekpoints: WTF are you fed up with the incessant harassment at the checkpoints? Grüp; yourself in on this and ill let you know whenever I run into one!
tags: checkpoint ruritania lipperville
And then claim your post to own and control it.
You can tell that all of those replies are Grüp’d in because they are colored green; ordinary replies from anonymous users or users who do not want to be Grüp’d in are yellow.
Once all of your friends reply to this message with ‘I’m in!’ or ‘Checkpoints suck’ or whatever, and they click ‘Grüp me in’, every time you find a checkpoint, your friends will receive warning to avoid it.
Of course, if there are lots of people doing this and they are all Grüp’d in to each other’s posts, you will have access to a defacto dynamic detection network.
Anyone searching for ruritania or lipperville will come across this ‘app’ and can subscribe to receive messages from it, meaning that your information can spread to everyone.
You could even narrow it down to the level of a neighborhood or street with the correct tags, and of course, this network could be used for anything, not just checkpoints.
Through our API, it will be possible to build an app on top of our data streams so that you can incorporate Upingme information anywhere it could be used.
Upingme, like any other data service or tool can be used for any purpose; we are giving this example not because we encourage people to do ‘bad things’, but because stopping Apple from selling an app that does something that you do not like, makes no sense whatsoever. With a few clicks you can duplicate the functionality of almost any app you like, and if you have the time and the skill, you can write one yourself and distribute it on the web or off of the web.
These applications, and the ones that are sure to come cannot be stopped. The best way to solve the problems that people face whilst living together is to approach the problem directly, and not to attack the symptom. Checkpoint avoiding apps are a symptom, and not the problem.