Apple yanks fake driver's license app
Despite the existence of apps that pour digital beers, make e-fart noises, and load and fire virtual guns, Apple has decided that creating a fake driver's license is over the line and has thus pulled it from the App Store.
Despite the existence of apps that pour digital beers, make e-fart noises, and load and fire virtual guns, Apple has decided that creating a fake driver's license is over the line and has thus pulled it from the App Store.
The decision, though, was not entirely unprovoked. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., requested the app be removed via a letter to Apple's newly appointed CEO, Tim Cook. Cook, and Apple, have obliged and the app is no longer available.
The concept of the app is a simple one. Using templates of driver's licenses from all 50 states, users could insert their own pictures and biographical information to create custom identification. It seems like a fun way to goof around and share funny characters with friends.
It didn't seem that way to the Coalition for a Secure Driver's License, which was quick to criticize Apple's inclusion of the app on the App Store.
"Apple should have had measures in place to prevent the 'License' application from ever making it to the App Store," said Brian Zimmer, CSDL president.
Zimmer claimed that the coalition first alerted Apple to the potential danger of the fake driver's license app back in April 2011.
Though many states have incorporated various security technologies in their identification cards (black light holograms, UPC scanner codes) Zimmer claimed that Apple could be committing an illegal act by facilitating criminal fraud, assuming people would use the app to print fake ID cards.
Do you think a fake driver's license app is too dangerous to be in the App Store? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!