Man Creates Useful City Parking iPhone App... And City Doesn't Get Upset
from the yes,-dog-bites-man dept
It's really tragic that this even seems like it's worth a post at all, but we've seen so many ridiculous stories of people creating cool and useful apps for their cities or universities -- only to have officials freak out that outsiders are somehow violating intellectual property laws, and only official city/university apps should be allowed. So, when we heard about a guy in Elgin, Illinois who created a simple iPhone app to help people avoid parking tickets, it just felt likely that city officials would be upset about it. But... instead, they actually seem happy about it:He just start selling his Elgin Parking iPhone application last week, but already city officials are commending him. For a download price of $1.99, it helps people comply with the city's odd/even parking law.Hopefully, this means that common sense is making a bit of a comeback. I half expected officials to either be upset that he was "making money" by selling an app that helped people avoid parking tickets, or be upset that, with fewer parking tickets to give out, they'd have less revenue -- but it's great to see the city endorsing this sort of thing, where a citizen is free to help make life better for others in the city. And... since people sometimes complain that too many of the stories on Techdirt are negative, it seemed worth a post to give kudos to Elgin for not doing the stupid things that many other cities have done. In this day and age, that's progress.
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Filed Under: elgin, iphone apps, parking
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The city can give permits that you can put on your windshield to indicate you work in the area and they will exempt you from a ticket but it's not even used for the most part since the law is so unenforced. It's a silly law anyways, not sure why those signs were put up one day.
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Re: Parking
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Where's the trolls
Someone is making money and no one is bitching about the lost income? Surely the trolls have something to say about this. I mean after all, this guy is making money and it's denying the city income.
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Re: Where's the trolls
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Re: Where's the trolls
There are also no vehicle stickers in Elgin because of the casino.
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Re:
either they would promptly start charging you for Not parking, or...
it really wouldn't change anything.
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truly amazing!
Anyway, can't the county or state decide this needs to be taken to court?
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Are we sure this isn't an episode from "The Twilight Zone"?
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In Some Places It Would Be Obstruction of Justice
jase
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Re: In Some Places It Would Be Obstruction of Justice
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Re: In Some Places It Would Be Obstruction of Justice
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Re: In Some Places It Would Be Obstruction of Justice
> of justice
I'd love to hear the prosecutor try and argue that feeding a parking meter meets the elements of obstruction. All 50 states use the same Model Penal Code definition of obstruction and one of the elements of the offense is that the actions of the defendant must block or hinder the official investigation of an ongoing criminal offense.
No city I know of launches official investigations into parking violations. Nor is a parking violation even a criminal offense in the first place. Such a scenario fails to meet the elements of obstruction on a variety of levels.
There's no logical or legal way that a prosecutor could make a case for obstruction against someone merely for preventing a parking violation from taking place.
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Re: In Some Places It Would Be Obstruction of Justice
> approach to stopping him by claiming he was
> obstructing justice and impeding city income.
They'd still fail because unlike feeding a meter, this app is considered speech under the 1st Amendment and in a conflict between his right to speak and the city's right to make a buck, the city loses.
Back when I was in college at UT-Austin, there was a notorious speed trap on I-35 between Austin and Georgetown. One day a group of students who had all gotten tickets there decided to do something about it. They made up a bunch of signs that said "SLOW DOWN! POLICE SPEED TRAP ONE MILE AHEAD" and positioned themselves a mile north of where the cops where trolling for speeders.
Well, you can guess what happened. The cops were none too pleased about it and ended up arresting them for "disorderly conduct" and "hindering the administration of justice".
A local activist attorney took on their case free of charge and it ended up going all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled that the police violated the students' 1st Amendment right to free speech under the Texas Constitution; that merely standing on the side of the road with signs is in no way "disorderly" and that regardless, it could never be a crime for one citizen to encourage another citizen to obey the law.
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Too many positive stories
;)
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Increased revenue is the sole reason that parking meters were made to accept only 1-2 hours worth of payment at a time. Who can get anything done in downtown Charlotte in that amount of time? You spend all day running back to feed the meter.
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Re: Law
> their profits, you can bet that a lawsuit would
> be forthcoming if someone were to do the same
> thing here.
Based on what legal theory? Last I checked, "we want more money" isn't a valid cause of action.
The company would have to put forth a valid legal theory that not only argued that they are somehow fundamentally entitled to a citizenry that continually violates the law, but that their entitlement somehow also trumps this programmer's 1st Amendment rights to free expression under both the US and the Illinois Constitutions.
I've been a lawyer for almost 20 years and I can't think of any such cause of action that would survive a judge's laugh test.
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Re: Re: Law
You missed the OP.
"Last I checked, "we want more money" isn't a valid cause of action."
Tell that to the RIAA and the many other extortionists who have been filing lawsuits for bogus reasons.
"The company would have to put forth a valid legal theory that not only argued that they are somehow fundamentally entitled to a citizenry that continually violates the law, but that their entitlement somehow also trumps this programmer's 1st Amendment rights to free expression under both the US and the Illinois Constitutions."
It doesn't matter, the legal potential legal fees could probably still prevent someone from creating or continuing such an app.
"I've been a lawyer for almost 20 years"
and if you still haven't realized how messed up our legal system is or if you are actually defending our legal system you are either very very stupid or you are dishonest and you are a perfect example of what's wrong with this world.
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Re: Re: Re: Law
> is or if you are actually defending our legal system you are either
> very very stupid or you are dishonest and you are a perfect example
> of what's wrong with this world.
Wow. I was actually *criticizing* the idea that some company could sue by claiming that they own the parking spot information in Charlotte and/or any attempt to help people obey the law violates their business model.
I was saying that's ridiculous. But you seem to think taking such a position makes me a "perfect example of what's wrong with this world".
You apparently prefer a world where government officials and corporations can use copyright to squash anything they don't like.
Behold the irony, dipshit.
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Re: Re: Law
In the OP, just to spell it out for you.
"but we've seen so many ridiculous stories of people creating cool and useful apps for their cities or universities -- only to have officials freak out that outsiders are somehow violating intellectual property laws"
"Last I checked, "we want more money" isn't a valid cause of action."
Last I checked even if it isn't, it doesn't matter.
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Re: Re: Re: Law
> violating intellectual property laws
The idea that some private company contracted to run the parking meters is going to file a suit claiming they have the copyright on the city's parking spaces is nonsense. As I said, wouldn't pass the judge's laugh test (just to spell it out for you).
I could have won summary judgment on that case my first semester of law school.
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