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A24 technology
Tuesday 19 March 2019

Nevada considers technology to scan cellphones after crashes

By RYAN TARINELLI field and is not being used proposal, drivers who re-
Associated Press by any law enforcement fused to have their phones
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) agencies. The company checked would have
— Most states ban texting said the device could be faced a 90-day suspension
behind the wheel, but a tested in the field if the Ne- of their driver’s license. An
legislative proposal could vada legislation passes. amendment by the mea-
make Nevada one of the Advocate Ben Lieberman, sure’s sponsor, Democratic
first states to allow police to who lost his 19-year-old son Assemblywoman Michelle
use a contentious technol- to a crash where a driver Gorelow, withdrew the
ogy to find out if a person had been texting, has be- penalty and said police
was using a cellphone dur- come the face of the push must obtain a warrant if a
ing a car crash. for the device. The New driver refuses access.
The measure is igniting pri- York resident urged a pan- The amendment led Dem-
vacy concerns and has led el of Nevada lawmakers to ocratic Assemblyman
lawmakers to question the support the measure ear- Ozzie Fumo to ask if the
practicality of the technol- lier this month, saying dis- legislation was necessary
ogy, even while acknowl- In this May 10, 2017 file photo, Ben Lieberman poses for a photo tracted driving should hold because police already
edging the threat of dis- at his home in Chappaqua, N.Y. a greater social stigma. can get search warrants to
tracted driving. Associated Press “When I was growing up, access cellphones.
The future of the Nevada ting, scrolling or otherwise as the “textalyzer,” which drunk driving was a joke. “Wouldn’t it be better just
proposal isn’t clear. A simi- using their phones. Add- connects to a cellphone Now it’s not a joke,” he to give this technology to
lar measure introduced in ing to the problem, they and looks for user activ- told lawmakers earlier this (the police) and so that
2017 failed in the New York say there is no consistent ity, such as opening a month. “Device use is a they can utilize it after they
Legislature, but lawmakers police practice that holds Facebook messenger call joke. Make it so it’s not get the warrant already?”
are considering it again. those drivers accountable screen. It is made by Israel- funny.” Opponents air he said. “Nothing in this bill
Law enforcement officials for traffic crashes, unlike based company Celleb- concerns that the measure is actually new, ‘cause the
argue that distracted driv- drunken driving. rite, which says the tech- violates the Fourth Amend- law enforcement (agen-
ing is underreported and If the Nevada measure nology does not access or ment, which protects cy) already has the tech-
that weak punishments do passes, it would allow po- store personal content. against unreasonable niques and tools that we’re
little to stop drivers from tex- lice to use a device known It has not been tested in the search and seizure. providing.”
Jay Stanley, a senior policy A search warrant on a cell-
analyst at the American phone can yield additional
Civil Liberties Union, also information following a fa-
raised questions over how tal crash, but that practice
the software will work and is not uniform among law
if it will be open sourced enforcement agencies,
so the public can ensure said Steven Casstevens,
it doesn’t access personal a police chief in Buffalo
content. Grove, Illinois, and first vice
Lieberman points to a president for the Interna-
paper by Ric Simmons, a tional Association of Chiefs
professor at Ohio State of Police.
University’s law school, ar- John Whetsel, former sher-
guing that testing a cell- iff of Oklahoma Coun-
phone after a crash is ty, Oklahoma, said the
“minimally intrusive” and practice is not consistent
does not violate the Fourth among agencies because
Amendment. In the ini- distracted driving is still a
tial version of the Nevada relatively new issue. Plus,
laws vary between states
and securing a search
warrant for a phone can
depend on an agency’s
resources, he said.
Gorelow, the measure’s
sponsor, argued that
phone records only pro-
vide a “sliver” of informa-
tion. Social media use,
browsing the internet and
playing games would not
show up on those records,
she told lawmakers.
The National Highway Traf-
fic Safety Administration
says 3,450 people died na-
tionwide in 2016 from traf-
fic crashes where distrac-
tion was an issue. About
14 percent involved some-
one using a cellphone, the
agency said.q