Imagine that you’ve been in a car accident.
A police officer responds to the scene and
asks to see your phone. Do you have to hand
it over?
If you live in New York and the proposed legislation
known as Evan’s Law passes, you will. State
Senator Terrence Murphy filed the act back
in January. And a company called Cellebrite
is developing a device that police could use
to enforce the law. Here’s how it would
work: A police officer comes to the scene
of an accident and suspects that at least
one person may have been distracted by a personal
electronic device. Connecting Cellebrite’s
gadget to each person’s phone in turn, the
officer can see if anyone had been using their
phone immediately before the accident. According
to the proposed legislation, the device wouldn’t
record or analyze what the phone was doing
-- it would just log that an activity had
taken place. And since it’s illegal in New
York to operate a personal electronic device
while driving, this information could lead
to an arrest. It’s sort of like the smartphone
equivalent of a breathalyzer test. The act
argues that each driver has given implied
consent to hand over a device, just as they
have given implied consent for a breathalyzer
test if an officer requests it in New York
state. So what happens if you refuse to hand
over your phone? The state suspends your driver’s
license for at least a year. Unless you’ve
refused to hand over your phone before -- then
it’s a minimum of eighteen months. Plus
you may face a fine of $500 for the first
offense or $750 for subsequent cases. This
is in addition to any other legal action taken
against you due to the accident itself. Senator
Murphy argues that since the Cellebrite device
doesn’t access your data it doesn’t violate
the Fourth Amendment guaranteeing protection
against illegal search and seizure. There
are lots of questions left to answer. Will
the Cellebrite device be able to determine
if the phone was being used in hands-free
mode? In New York, it’s legal to operate
personal electronic devices if you aren’t
holding them in your hand. And since Cellebrite’s
other major products can scrape a phone for
data and activity, some people are concerned
that this law could lead to more invasive
searches in the future. It’s important to
remember that distracted driving is a legitimate
problem. According to the CDC, about 18% of
all crashes in which someone was injured also
involved distracted driving. And according
to Senator Murphy, 67% of drivers admit to
using their cell phones while driving
despite knowing the dangers involved.
But is this the right way to solve that problem?
Should we just wait around for driverless
cars? What are your thoughts? Get in touch
with us and let us know. And don’t forget
to check back at now.howstuffworks.com every
day
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