Mexico Fights Corruption Using iPhones and BlackBerrys PDF Print E-mail
Paying obligatory “mordidas,” or bribes, in Mexico can now be combated with iPhones and Blackberrys , thanks to an application that shows drivers what to do when faced with bribery requests from capital police, who frequently demand money on the spot in exchange for pardoning traffic fines or not calling the tow truck.

The app created for iPhone (and the iPod Touch) and that in the coming weeks will be available to BlackBerry users, offers everything from a traffic-fine calculator to avoid being swindled, to a map that gives directions via satellite to all the parking lots where vehicles are impounded after their drivers commit some traffic infraction.

But the program also includes all of Mexico City’s traffic regulations, a list of the most frequent sanctions, a calendar showing the vehicles allowed to circulate each day based on a program that restricts the use of the oldest-model cars, and even a connection with emergency telephones.

The anti-bribe program costs 20 pesos (about $1.50) in the virtual Apple store, and in less than three months has had more than 11,000 downloads, the administrator of the Futuro Movil company, Daniel Martinez Landeros, told Efe.

The company, which specializes in technological developments for cell phones, has already created another application that is keeping more than 37,000 users posted about the traffic along their way and offers alternative routes in one of the world’s biggest cities, through which several million vehicles drive every day.

Both systems also offer users a traffic report with up-to-date information on accidents, detours and reopened roads and even the current temperature, and, in the case of the anti-bribe app, provides access to the history of each vehicle to see if it has any traffic fines pending.

Martinez said that, since corruption is one of Mexico’s main problems, they thought about how they could help drivers “who often have no idea about their rights and duties, and are often caught unawares by the cops.”

“We want to give the user weapons that will keep him or her from feeling defenseless in these abusive situations,” said the head of Futuro Movil, who added that they are already working on an update of the anti-bribery program because of its outstanding acceptance by iPhone users.

A recent survey published in the United States said that 85 percent of bribes in Mexico were requested by people connected with the government and that almost half of the “mordidas” (bites) were demanded by police.

Several campaigns by the Mexican government urge citizens not to pay bribes and invite them to report on whoever demands them, in order to end the practice that unfortunately has become a part of big-city life.

The country has launched a number of programs to combat the corrupt practice, from spy cameras in public places to such original suggestions as making cops carry pictures of their families so they will think twice before asking for a bribe.

This Friday saw the latest action against bribe-taking, a campaign under the slogan “Don’t sell yourself for a bribe,” which provides drivers with fake folding money bearing the image of a pig wearing a suit and tie, to be used to pay cops demanding a “mordida.”

How police will react to this latest ploy has yet to be seen.

By Antonio Soto
Latin American Herald Tribune
June 1, 2010

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