‘Breathalyzer’ meet ‘Textalyzer’

When was the last time you used your smartphone to check for directions while driving? Distracted driving is any activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving. A report from 2014 showed, 3,179 people were killed and over 430,000 were injured in motor vehicle accidents with distracted drivers. Legislation to amend the vehicle and traffic law and the executive law, is currently before the New York Senate Transportation Committee. Terrence Murphy, a State Senator, announced the bill in collaboration with activist group, Distracted Operators Risk Casualties, to test portable electronic devices after a motor vehicle collision. They’re hoping the ‘Textalyzer’ is going to change all that.

Any person who operates a motor vehicle in this state shall be deemed to have given consent to field testing of his or her mobile telephone and/or portable electronic device for the purpose of determining the use thereof while operating a motor vehicle provided that such testing is conducted by or at the direction of a police officer, after such person has operated a motor vehicle involved in an accident or collision involving damage to real or personal property, personal injury or death.

Cellebrite, the company recently mentioned regarding the FBI attempts to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, is now marketing a device dubbed the “Textalyzer, for law enforcement that would analyze a driver’s phone. Under the proposed legislation, Senate Bill S6326A,  if a driver refuses to allow police to scan their phone, they could lose their license. To some, allowing the police access to their cell phone constitutes a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Of course, how and if the ‘textalyzer’ would violate Fourth Amendment rights to reasonable search and seizure are still not defined.The bill does provide protective rights to the person who is driving as well.

Furthermore, no such electronic scan shall include the content or origin of any communication or game conducted, or image or electronic data viewed, on a mobile telephone or portable electronic device.

Thus upholding the Supreme Court ruling that the police need warrants to search the cellphones of people they arrest. The New York Civil liberties Union has a different opinion. In a statement made from Executive Director, Donna Lieberman,

Distracted driving is a serious public safety concern, but this bill is ill-conceived and misguided, and fraught with legal and practical problems. This proposal appears likely to impute suspicion and guilt for a wide range of lawful activity, and to invite cops to seize phones without justification or a warrant. There are existing legal channels for law enforcement to access a phone or phone records if they have grounds to suspect distracted driving has occurred, rather than field-testing every fender bender.

So, is this new ‘Textalyzer’ technology stepping on your Fourth Amendment Right? Does it look like this Senate Bill is going in the right direction?

We’d like to hear what you think.

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