The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
N.Y. ponders using text-detector tech
Device that scans motorists’ phones has some alarmed.
ALBANY, N.Y. — 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.
Democratic 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.
The device is called the “textalyzer” because of its similarity to the Breathalyzer, which is used to identify drunk drivers. If plugged into a person’s phone for about a minute, it will indicate whether a motorist had been 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, according to Rainey Reitman, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“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, N.Y., resident Ben Lieberman lost his son Evan in a fatal car crash in 2011 and later discovered the driver of the car his son was in had been texting. He’s now a leading advocate for the textalyzer and has worked with Cellebrite on the project. He said concerns about personal privacy are unfounded, noting that the device would only tell police whether a driver had been breaking the law.
“A Breathalyzer doesn’t tell you where you were drinking, or whether it was vodka or Jack Daniels — just that you were drinking,” he said. “This is the right balance between public safety and privacy.”