iPhone軟件教人如何離婚惹爭議

A new app offering legal advice to those contemplating divorce could make the process too easy, say critics。

A new iPhone app claims to offer easy to understand advice about divorce law, but family campaigners have raised concerns about whether the £9.99 programme risks trivialising the process。

The app warns that it “is not a substitute for professional advice to which users are directed throughout the app when appropriate”. Although similar apps have been available in America for some time, it is the first to offer advice specific to England and Wales。

In its Apple App Store description, the app claims to offer “the first line of information to anyone considering divorce or separation and who wants to be better informed about the process”。

In 2009, the divorce rate in England and Wales was the lowest since 1974 according to the Office for National Statistics. Fewer than 114,000 couples divorced, down 6.4 per cent on 2008. It is the sixth consecutive year that the number of divorces has fallen. In 2003, there were 153,065.

Campaigners Christian Voice accused the app of trivialising marriage and divorce. " It could encourage divorce by normalising the decision, making it seem as easy to make as any other lifestyle choice. It could also deter the other partner from fighting to save their marriage,” the organisation’s Stephen Green told The Guardian。

Anastasia de Waal of the think tank Civitas said that she thought that if “solely impenetrable legalese stands between you and spousal severance, some jargon-busting might be a good thing. But ultimately the chances are this app will be mainly used by the curious”。正考慮離婚的人士如今可以通過一款應用軟件來得到法律建議，但有批評人士指責這讓離婚變得太容易。

這款iPhone手機應用軟件爲用戶提供淺顯易懂的離婚法律建議，但有家庭運動人士擔心，這款售價僅9.99英鎊的軟件會使人們更輕易離婚。

軟件提醒稱：“該軟件並不能替代專業諮詢，在使用時，軟件會在需要時指導用戶尋求專業諮詢。”儘管類似軟件已經在美國上市一段時間了，但還是首次向英格蘭和威爾士地區提供專門諮詢。

據蘋果應用商店描述，該軟件可以“爲考慮離婚或分居的用戶，以及想更多瞭解離婚過程的用戶提供重要諮詢信息。”

英國國家統計局的數據顯示，英格蘭和威爾士地區2009年離婚率創下了自1974年以來的最低水平，只有不到11.4萬對夫婦離異，比2008年下降了6.4%。這是上述兩地區的離婚率連續第六年下降。在2003年，上述兩地區有15萬3065對夫妻離異。

“基督教聲音”組織指責這款軟件將婚姻和離異簡便化。該組織的斯蒂芬•格林在接受《衛報》採訪時說：“這款軟件將離婚決定常態化，會鼓勵離婚行爲，使人們決定離婚就像做出平常的生活選擇一樣。這也阻撓了另一方發起婚姻保衛戰。”

智囊機構奇維塔斯的安娜斯塔西亞•德瓦爾認爲，如果“你和伴侶的離異僅存在某些法律措辭方面的問題，那軟件多教些行話不是壞事。但大部分使用者很可能只是出於好奇。”