Apple removes fake driver's license app at urging of Sen. Casey

Apple removed an application from its online store on Monday that allowed users to create fake driver's licenses after Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) wrote a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, saying the app posed a "threat to public safety and national security."

"License," an app developed by DriversEd.com, allowed users to put their picture into any one of the 50 state driver's licenses. They then had an image of a fake driver's license they could print out and use to pretend to be 18 or 21 or someone else entirely. 

"By assisting in the creation of counterfeit driver’s licenses, 'License' threatens to ease deception by criminals and contribute to the rising problem of identity theft," Sen. Casey wrote in a letter to Apple, urging them to pull the app.

"I’m pleased that the app is no longer available in the store,” Casey said in a news release on Monday. “As Pennsylvania and states across the country deal with the rising problem of identity theft, tools that facilitate breaking the law should not be available to potential criminals.”

But Gary Tsifrin, founder of DriversEd.com, said the app was intended to be a fun game and was deliberately designed to avoid confusion with an official ID.

"We fully support Sen. Casey's effort to maintain the integrity of government-issued ID, but in this case, it's just misplaced," Tsifrin told The Hill.

He said the license images used difference fonts and were laid out differently than real IDs. Additionally, he said the resulting image quality was too low to pass for a real ID.

"It would take more expertise to re-jigger this app than to just start from scratch," Tsifrin said.

He compared the app to a carnival game that allows people to put their head in a hole above an image of a pirate.

"No one is going to mistake that for a real pirate," he said.

He added that he hopes Apple will re-consider its decision to remove the app.

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