New iPhone app lets you find sex offenders. Blimey

Is this serious? It appears the iPhone now has an app that allows you to track sex offenders in your area. This is a US initiative as I’d think it would run into legal privacy issues over in Europe.

Apparently, you turn up in a new area, open the app and up pop the locations of registered sex offenders on your digital iPhone map. Not only can you find the location of said offender but more details about them including their appearance, race, address and even sometimes a mugshot. (Which may be slightly wrong anyway as the main offender database is being constantly updated.)

There is a whole issue of whether this is right morally and in terms of human rights. Remember, I am based in Europe, where information on sex offenders is not as freely available as in the US; I can’t understand how this data being freely available doesn’t lead to vigilante attacks on people who have been judged by society to have served their penalty. It’s a thorny issue but not one I am trying to solve here.

My point is that – quite aside from the moral arguments – I’m amazed just how broad the applications for the iPhone have become. An app about sex offenders? Really? There are some intuitive apps that were developed early on such as pinpointing restaurants, cinemas and transport. But developing a map of sex offenders takes a bit of a leap in imagination. I can’t say I often pop round to a friend’s house and wonder how many sex offenders live in their area. (Although perhaps I will be now….)

It appears that with the iPhone app store, there is almost nothing that can’t be turned into portable information.

Thanks to PSFK for the tip off on this story and image.