New York state eyes ‘textalyzer’ to nab drivers
ALBANY, New York — Police in New York state may soon have a high-tech way of catching texting drivers: a device known as a “textalyzer” that allows an officer to quickly check if a phone has been in use before a crash.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday directed the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee to examine the technology, as well as the questions about privacy and civil liberties its use would raise.
“Despite laws to ban cellphone use while driving, some motorists still continue to insist on texting behind the wheel — placing themselves and others at substantial risk,” Cuomo said. “This review will examine the effectiveness of using this new emerging technology to crack down on this reckless behaviour and thoroughly evaluate its implications to ensure we protect the safety and privacy of New Yorkers.”
The device is called the “textalyzer” because of its similarity to the Breathalyzer, which is used to identify drunk drivers. Once plugged into a person’s phone for about a minute, it will indicate whether a motorist was texting, emailing, surfing the web or otherwise using his or her cellphone before a serious crash. The textalyzer would not access actual information on the phone, such as pictures, personal emails or web browsing history.
The “textalyzer” is still some months away from being ready, according to Cellebrite, the Israel-based tech company developing the device.
Digital-privacy and civil-liberties groups already have questioned whether the technology’s use would violate personal privacy, noting that police can already obtain search warrants if they believe information on a private phone could be useful in a prosecution.
Many security experts are skeptical when it comes to promises that the textalyzer would only access information about phone usage, and not personal material, according to Rainey Reitman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates for civil liberties when it comes to digital technology.
“I am extremely nervous about handling a cellphone to a law enforcement officer and allowing them in any way to forensically analyze it,” she said. “This is a technology that is incredibly problematic and at the same time is unnecessary. There are already legal avenues for a police officer.”
Westchester County resident Ben Lieberman lost his 19-year-old son Evan to a fatal car crash in 2011 and later discovered the driver of the car his son was in had been texting while driving. He’s now a leading advocate for the textalyzer and has worked with Cellebrite on the project. He said he understands concerns about personal privacy, but that they’re unfounded, noting that the device would only tell police whether a driver had been breaking the law.