Textalyzer Development Moves Forward

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monkeymagick

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For any that missed the news on this, there is a new device out there that will potentially allow police officers to determine if drivers were texting while driving. Developed by Cellebrite, the tablet-sized device can track the last usage periods of the driver right before an accident. Texting and driving is currently illegal in 47 states and the device aims to crackdown on activity. As of now, the only way for law enforcement to retrieve cellphone data is through a search warrant.

Check out the video.

Cellebrite says police won't have the device until states pass legislation allowing it. A measure currently before New York lawmakers would allow authorities to suspend your license if you refuse to hand over your phone. Similar legislation is underway in New Jersey, Tennessee and Chicago.
 
monkeymagick said:
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A measure currently before New York lawmakers would allow authorities to suspend your license if you refuse to hand over your phone. Similar legislation is underway in New Jersey, Tennessee and Chicago.
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Fascinating. I prepare my messages with pen/paper while driving and drinking coffee with my morning newspaper. Glad they're finally doing something about that damn 4th amendment.
 
risc said:
Fascinating. I prepare my messages with pen/paper while driving and drinking coffee with my morning newspaper. Glad they're finally doing something about that damn 4th amendment.
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The 4A doesn't allow anyone to conceal anything when they are involved in a crime.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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I'm surprised they need all this technology to catch them. I see people texting and driving all the time. Finding out who is doing after the accident doesn't seem to productive at all. Perhaps law enforcement should be doing their job.
 
I don't text and drive, or do anything with my phone outside of looking at GPS, but it's mounted to the dash. I hate people who text and drive.

With that out of the way. What does it matter? Are they at fault in the crash? That is all the matters, if they are at fault there are already laws to handle everything, the reason for being at fault means little. If they are trying to find out who was at fault because of conflicting information etc etc, get a warrant to search.

This will also be a gray area in lots (and ever growing) of cars can do hands free voice texting/actions. This device seems to only check usage, and doesn't seem to have a way to tell between the two, one being legal and one not.
 
zkostik said:
However I bet you on any car accident police will demand your phone to be scanned. I don't pick up calls or text when I drive and like hell will be unlocking my phone. Encrypt your phone memory and this device will not work.
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The device may not work if phone memory is encrypted, but they can then just go for a warrant. I think part of the purpose here is to reduce the time and cost of submitting / processing warrants. Texting alone is involved in about 1/4 of all accidents. It may suck to have big brother in our business that much, but so many people are retards about using their phones and driving that something has to be done.
 
Sort of hard for the policia to catch people on there cell phones when they are one of the major violators themselves. I always see cops driving while on the phone. Yes I know they are trained to do so but 98% of what they are using it for is not police related and we all know that. When I was a paramedic we had to take an 8 hour course on how to use a celll phone while driving.
 
That is precisely my point...and I think you all are misunderstanding what I mean here. Vehicle incident = probable cause. No state legislation can override the Constitution, thus no rules can be made to allow any LEO to seize someone's cell phone without an issued warrant resulting from a proper investigation. If a warrant is produced, then it's not a violation of the 4A for the cell phone to be seized.

This textalyzer is a gray area, imo...as long as the LEO doesn't lay physical hands on a person's cell phone explicitly for the purposes of scanning, and can successfully scan it by means of NFC while in a public place, they can probably get away with it just fine, if the courts support such an action.
 
I have been in car accidents and near misses long before people had texting. People then used to just turn around and talk to people in their car. Leave my phone alone, I use it all the time for gps and hate the stupid "you are driving" warnings. I know, thats why it is mounted to the dash.
 
I don't see how this is even news. It's like an advertisement for something where there's competing products already.
Such as: https://www.msab.com/products/msab-platforms/#field
http://www.secureview.us/
http://accessdata.com/products-services/mobile-solutions

Basically anything with the google search of "mobile forensics police" is a tool created to do this same thing, extract data out of cell phones for law enforcement.
All of them have the capability to extract text messages and when they were sent and received.

Typically, a normal fender bender is not a criminal offense (http://www.lawyerlocator.com/auto-accidents/criminal-offense-auto-accident). It's called an accident for a reason. Using your property to make it into a crime and bypassing the needed warrant is a bit scary.
 
mjz_5 said:
The amount of people using their phones while texting is ridiculous. Something has to be done. A car is a weapon, you can't be distracted
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When i got my SUV and could see in other people's cars... jesus christ.

The interstate heading to Walmart Corporate office is ludicrous. Granted there's so much traffic you're only doing 30-40mph instead of 70, but i would say 9/10 people that i drive by are using their phones the entire drive. No exaggeration, 9 out of 10, maybe even higher if you add a decimal.
 
Serious question: If I use Siri to send a text message, is that texting while driving under the law? Sometimes I do this when I am going to be late somewhere...
 
zkostik said:
However I bet you on any car accident police will demand your phone to be scanned. I don't pick up calls or text when I drive and like hell will be unlocking my phone. Encrypt your phone memory and this device will not work.
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put your phone in the center console and it'll be treated as if it's an object in the trunk, no need to hand it over without a warrant.
 
ruffbytes said:
Serious question: If I use Siri to send a text message, is that texting while driving under the law? Sometimes I do this when I am going to be late somewhere...
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Hands free has never been a crime. The idea with texting is that you're looking at your phone screen instead of the road when you're doing it.
Same reason why hands free phone calls are allowed, yet holding the phone and talking is considered illegal.
 
They have all kinds of law enforcement interfaces to the Cell phone network, they know your texts, your location, data usage, webpages, and might even record your calls if they put a trace request on your SIM

If you need to escape the country ditch your phone, credit cards, onstar equipped vehicle, etc
 
Lord of Shadows said:
They have all kinds of law enforcement interfaces to the Cell phone network, they know your texts, your location, data usage, webpages, and might even record your calls if they put a trace request on your SIM

If you need to escape the country ditch your phone, credit cards, onstar equipped vehicle, etc
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You're talking about stingray, which is technically illegal for the police to use, but they do it anyways as long as no one knows about it/can't call them out on it.
Stingray is very localized. I believe this product the ad is for is a device which connects to your phone via usb/lightning/whatever port and extracts data out of it. As far as i understand, it can do a lot more than just extract texts. Pictures, emails, accounts, etc can all be accessed.
 
Hypergreatthing said:
I don't see how this is even news. It's like an advertisement for something where there's competing products already.
Such as: https://www.msab.com/products/msab-platforms/#field
http://www.secureview.us/
http://accessdata.com/products-services/mobile-solutions

Basically anything with the google search of "mobile forensics police" is a tool created to do this same thing, extract data out of cell phones for law enforcement.
All of them have the capability to extract text messages and when they were sent and received.

Typically, a normal fender bender is not a criminal offense (http://www.lawyerlocator.com/auto-accidents/criminal-offense-auto-accident). It's called an accident for a reason. Using your property to make it into a crime and bypassing the needed warrant is a bit scary.
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Over 90% of all automobile accidents are caused by driver error. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812115
Any thing that makes people pay more attention to the road and less to their gadgets is a good thing in my book.
 
Jim Kim said:
Over 90% of all automobile accidents are caused by driver error. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812115
Any thing that makes people pay more attention to the road and less to their gadgets is a good thing in my book.
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Maybe something that requires you to have both your hands on the wheel and if you remove one for more than 5 seconds it starts to decelerate. Also radio volume is controlled so as to not be too loud to distract you. A system that requires your eyes forward, because looking over your shoulder to see what is next to you of course is as distracting and dangerous as texting so we will need cameras and displays. Probably shouldn't allow kids in cars unless you can sound proof their area so it doesn't take away from driving concentration. Breathalizer installed so we cant start our car or maintain driving it while under the influence. Probably also add in there a system that monitors the speed of the road and only allows you to go 5 over the limit, speeders are dangerous too.

Auto tailgate avoidance too, so you can't get too close to be under reaction time distance.

See where this could go if we just force people to do things?

And then people say automated driving is a terrible thing because humans are needed to drive safely
 
Old_Way said:
The device may not work if phone memory is encrypted, but they can then just go for a warrant. I think part of the purpose here is to reduce the time and cost of submitting / processing warrants. Texting alone is involved in about 1/4 of all accidents. It may suck to have big brother in our business that much, but so many people are retards about using their phones and driving that something has to be done.
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I know people are retards and I see cops here texting as well, but personally I feel they have no right to just request to get into your phone, same as you can refuse a search. If they really have a good reason then they need a warrant. I'm totally for ticketing and busting texters but I'm not sure this is the way to go as I can almost guarantee it will extend to all drivers. Cop can pull you over and say you're not driving straight and demand to get into your phone or something. Should you now keep your phone in the back of the car just for this occasion?
 
sfsuphysics said:
put your phone in the center console and it'll be treated as if it's an object in the trunk, no need to hand it over without a warrant.
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If it's within reach, I highly doubt it will make any difference. My phone does stay in the center console or in the backpack on rear seat as I don't need to pick it up. If you use phone as GPS, they will still crawl up your ass with this law.
 
Jim Kim said:
Over 90% of all automobile accidents are caused by driver error. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812115
Any thing that makes people pay more attention to the road and less to their gadgets is a good thing in my book.
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Not at the cost of giving up privacy. Mandatory inspections of your private property to determine if you're guilty of a crime in an accident is for the most part illegal.
Also any information obtained in the search will probably be kept by police. Why? Because they have a habit of retaining it.

I mean taking this kind of approach, what's the difference of being in an accident and walking down the street and being randomly searched?
Even if you're innocent, your information will be saved by police and could possibly lead to unrelated charges.
 
So which is the cause of more accidents drinking and driving or texting and driving?
 
Verge said:
When i got my SUV and could see in other people's cars... jesus christ.

The interstate heading to Walmart Corporate office is ludicrous. Granted there's so much traffic you're only doing 30-40mph instead of 70, but i would say 9/10 people that i drive by are using their phones the entire drive. No exaggeration, 9 out of 10, maybe even higher if you add a decimal.
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You're in NWA as well?
 
Lord of Shadows said:
Nah, stingray is a fake tower, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawful_interception is the stuff they can get with a warrant
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Well technically stingray is a secret and how it works isn't disclosed in court, practically ever.
The problem with it is that it's not specific to the person they're trying to search information from.
An appropriate analogy is knowing a crime committed at a certain address and then searching every house in the neighborhood near that address. Stingray being a portable cell phone tower will have numerous people connect to it and use it without their knowledge that has nothing to do with the warrant.
 
Anyone who thinks they're going to just get text times and other banal items is fooling themselves. This will be a wholesale copy of whatever they can grab. Have some pics of your girl in sultry lingerie? Nude? Yourself nude? Use a specialty website? How about Tinder or Grindr? Your emails.
 
5 minutes of this being out there and there will be an app or security setting to specifically block it. For instance my usb port is set to power only unless I specifically change it and I have to unlock it to do it. You can bet your sweet bits I will be taking off my watch if I get pulled over so that way my phone won't unlock without my fingerprint or password that the officer won't get without a warrant.
 
I'm more concerned about reactionary state legislatures passing sweeping laws on unproven technology from a single company. Apple and other devices makers will simple break Cellebrite's technology, though.

What's next, refuse a penis inspection after an accident and get your license suspended? I went throw a red light (barely) and got caught by the camera because I was also kissing and "touching" the woman next to me.

Will States make it an automatic license suspension if you refuse to answer and of an officer's questions?

I also use my cellphone as my music source in the car. I control my music with the actual phone. Is listening to music now illegal in cars?

Where does it stop?

Driving is as safe as it's ever been. Why are certain people trying to implement a police state by going after driving laws?
 
While I agree that texting and driving is a serious problem, cities and police have proven time and again that they will abuse technologies like this. Sorry I'm not on board trading yet more of my freedom for a little illusion of safety.
 
anything that can fucking stop texting while driving I am for, fuck this bullshit. I almost died last night to some cockbag texting while driving. I'm front of the pack at a red light in a dual left turn lane at a very large intersection, lots of traffic, lots of lanes, lots of information to process.

I am looking at the cross traffic light to know when I can expect mine to turn green (hate being that guy with the super delayed response time). I see it turn yellow, then red, and then I see a guy run it. I'm like "ok, well, that guys a douche but he's through, plus the guy on my right is starting to lurch forward so we're in the clear, time to move). As I start out into the intersection with a solid 2+ second delay all these flashes go off like lightning, I dont even know what it is at first. It's the damn traffic cameras snapping pictures of someone running the light.

Next thing I know the guy on my right who is turning with me slams on his breaks as some piece of fucking human garbage blasts through the entire intersection 5 seconds after his light turned red. At his rate of speed that light turned red 50-100 yards as he approached, which meant he was texting for that long without ever looking up to careen through the intersection that late. He was also in the closest lane to me which is why he almost t-boned me and why i could see he was texting, THROUGH THE FUCKING INTERSECTION. Just head fucking down in his lap, face glowing a pale blue.

I chased his ass down i was so mad and pulled up next to him and started screaming out my window, because this guy was literally within an inch of my front bumper doing 50 through a red light. He just stared at me, fucking piece of shit.

I'm a pretty observant person but christ this guy just blew through at least 5 seconds after it turned red, how am I supposed to avoid that? I thought I was being diligent waiting for the first guy who ran the red light, no way could I expect another that late.
 
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next time you are next to him post his face publicly on facebook. "this jackass nearly killed me running a red light." that way whenever someone does a google image search for looks like this person his face will show up.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
While I agree that texting and driving is a serious problem, cities and police have proven time and again that they will abuse technologies like this. Sorry I'm not on board trading yet more of my freedom for a little illusion of safety.
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Then why not actually have a trial study in randomly selected locations to see if it results in a reduction in vehicles accidents, injuries, and fatalities and then judge the law by its results? This way bot sides can argue with data rather than fear mongering and hyperbole?
 
Trepidati0n said:
Then why not actually have a trial study in randomly selected locations to see if it results in a reduction in vehicles accidents, injuries, and fatalities and then judge the law by its results? This way bot sides can argue with data rather than fear mongering and hyperbole?
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Studies on distracted driving have already been done. They have time again shown that laws do little to deter the behavior and have negligible impact on safety. They only serve to fill government coffers.

I repeat, I'll not trade more freedoms for the illusion of safety. Sorry I have zero desire to live in a police or nanny state because a few people are willing to throw away something many have died to provide them.
 
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