Thought I would share this somewhat alarming news about a proposed law in New York that would require a driver in a car crash to be tested for phone usage after a crash:
As I currently live in New York I know that I have several questions I want answered before this law passes. Having worked in the mobile sale industry before I have used the Cellebrite machines they are referring to although the model I had access to was for cloning purposes. I would not mind this law if the machine they are using is only capable of testing for "usage".
However if the machine is also capable of cloning data then I would be against this, regardless of whether they say a warrant would be issued first or not. For me, the issue is whether the system is designed to prevent an intrusion of privacy or if it's a system that is clobbered on top of a cloning device that could then be potentially abused without notice. Anyone else feel this way too?
Do it I don't care. Far as I am concerned, once you are in an accident, police and others are free to search your vehicle, and give essentially a sobriety test. An even better deterrent, raise the fine, to the same as a DUI.
New York also regulates how much soda can be sold. I don't understand their obsession with trying to control the population in these mundane ways aside from making them passive to more important types of control.
Pull over to the side of the road or at another appropriate area to stop and send a message. Ok?
Then the police and more won't have to do this. What they are trying to do here is just gather evidence in case this needs to go to court. As for destroying this sort of info. after court in some situations they should and in others they shouldn't.
I'm just saying that giving the cops the phones you use on a daily basis isn't ideal. of course they could always subpoena the phone records. so this is a method of just cloning your phone, it is basically a joke. New York to the rescue.
I don't trade in my phone for upgrades. So I have a bunch of old models. If I was worried about it I would just go get an extra SIM card for like ten bucks and be done with it
A good lawyer could get anybody off with maybe intrusion invasion of privacy unlawful search without subpoena or warrant
As much as I hate to give the government more power, I have to say that I would support something like this. I have lost two close friends because they were hit head on because the other driver was texting when driving. I for one do not think that the laws are stiff enough for these situations and should resemble the laws concerning DUIs. I do also believe that once you have been involved in a auto accident, then your phone should be examined to see when you had made the last call, surfed on the web, checked facebook or made a text. I mean how many of us have sat behind someone at a red light after the traffic in front of them has pulled away because they were to busy checking facebook or texting to mind their situations.
I don't think that more power needs to be given to the government, and I do not support allowing the police to have the authority to search through my stuff at random times. I do however support it once you have put someones life in danger and involved them in an accident. I also think that insurance companies should punish people with higher rates or even drop them from coverage if they are found guilty of causing an accident while texting or surfing the internent.
With all of this said, I believe that the phone companies should also be held responsible for some of the tragic loss of life that has happened due to people texting and playing with their phones while driving. I'm not saying that they should be fined or penalized because someone else is reckless. I am saying that, they should take responsibility for their products. Almost every phone produced today has a gps sensor in it. How hard would it be to use that sensor coupled with a program that would lock the phone from texting or internet use once the phone determines it has reached a preset speed. They could leave some applications open for use such as Pandora, Itunes, ect.... because they can be operated from the lock screen or through the vehicles controls.
I think that the people who use their phones and other devices in situations that make it dangerous for themselves and for those that are around them need to be punished in a manner that will make the risk of using their phone not worth it. I think that phone manufacturing companies need to be held responsible for the devices they produce, and should build in safety features to protect innocent people.
It is a sad state that society as a collective body, we have to regulate ourselves to the protection of others because a small few are not capable of understanding the consequences of their actions. I feel the history of man kind will be told with the understanding that society fell apart and destroyed because a few were forced to think for the many, and those few slowly removed the rights of the majority all in the name of safety.
That's just the city... the epicenter of socialist ideas. With that said certain things should be up to consumer choice, like buying as much pop as you want. Other times, like texting while driving, the law should step in. Do i believe this is the correct way to combat this? no... But there has to be more done to stop dumbasses from texting while driving.
This is a really good idea. Some companies have an auto text feature that tells the other person you're driving but this would be the best way to prevent it. However, what if someone is on a bus, plane, train, or boat? That is the problem i see in implementing something like this.
The other problem is enforcement since that would be overreach by the government as well. I find it upsetting that phone companies are able to put bloatware on phones, now the government wants to put an app on as well. Though I suppose you could make it a law that affects insurance rates. If you don't have the app, your insurance premium goes up like as if you were in a crash already. If you have the app then it acts like a giant discount. Even that I find flaws in however.
Great, let's lock people out of more control over their phones. While we're at it, let's lock Bluetooth and the flashlight to always on as well. Not like they wonder why their batteries die so fast anyway.