A New York City police exits from a car in Times Square on November 26, 2015 in New York City. (Photo : Getty Images/Kena Betancur)
While police authorities are using Breathalyzer to determine drunk drivers in an accident, the New York police will use "textalyzer" to determine distracted driving, or if the driver used his phone prior to an accident. Other than that, the technology supposedly would not access any private information.
Textalyzer is developed by Cellebrite, the Israeli mobile forensic software firm which likely helped FBI crack an iPhone 5c used by the suspect in the San Bernardino shooting, amid the privacy policy battle between the government and Apple Inc.
Distracted driving is known to be as dangerous as drunk driving, but 67 percent of U.S. drivers use their phones when driving, App Advice reported. Drivers who refuse to submit their handsets for testing will have their driver's license suspended.
It was not detailed how the technology can determine whether the driver was texting, calling, streaming music to a stereo via Bluetooth or just placed the phone in a cradle as the Cellebrite technology has not been widely publicized. Industry observers do not exactly understand how it can tell if the phone was being used if it does not access any information.
The legislation is lobbied by the Distracted Operators Risk Casualties, the co-founder of which, Ben Lieberman had his son, Evan, killed in 2011 by a distracted driver in New York. The proposed law is named "Evan's Law" in memory of the 19-year-old victim.
The cause of the younger Lieberman's death was discovered after his family subpoenaed the phone records of the driver involved in the accident. The records showed the driver was allegedly distracted while behind the wheels.
"When people were held accountable for drunk driving, that's when positive change occurred," Ars Technica quoted Lieberman saying in a press release. "It's time to recognize that distracted driving is a similar impairment, and should be dealt with in a similar fashion. This is a way to address people who are causing damage."
Cellebrite has roadside devices that determine the phone's contents. If the legislation is pushed through, the firm would have to bid on the project, just like other tech companies.
The video below from Vocativ talks about textalizer.
