According to World Health Organisation, 1.2 million people die and 50 million people get disabled for life due to road accidents. Statistics over the last decade, points out that road crashes are right now at the tenth position in the list of leading killers. It is estimated that by 2030, this insidious murderer is going to be in the top5 of the list. Textalyzer is a device that is being developed and is hoped to detect mobile phone usage while driving effectively.
The implementation of textalyzer raises mass concerns about the breach of privacy since any police officer can take your phone and check it. Your mobile phone consists of sensitive personal data of yours which can be checked by the police if textalyzer is made a mandatory practice. Different countries have different approach towards this whole thing and we really need to compare the pros and cons of this device.
What is a textalyzer and how does textalyzer work?
- Textalyzer is a device that will detect technology usage through mobile phones while you were driving.
- This device can be used for law enforcement by the police just like breathalyzer.
- The police can make you pull over the vehicle and connect ab tablet to your phone with a chord.
- This will collect data from your phone that will check if you were using it while you were driving.
- The device can get data like incoming and outgoing phone calls, text messaging, and much more along with the time when you were using them.
Who makes textalyzer?
- An Israeli company named Cellibrite.
- The device is expected to release in early 2018.
- New York and other cities that suffer road crashes due to mobile phone usage are interested in textalyzers.
Why do we need textalyzer?
- To detect who uses phone while they are driving or riding.
- 1 out of every 4 road crashes is due to texting and driving.
- Most of the drivers who end up in distracted driver accidents due to technology are youngsters.
- Implementing textalyzers for law enforcement will help curb these sort of accidents and loss of lives.
- People will be more careful about not using their phones while driving.
What are the concerns raised regarding textalyzer implementation?
- Mobile phones contain a person’s most personal information.
- Any policeman can make you get your phone checked any time which is a violation of your privacy.
- The device can get data regarding whom you were on calls with or to whom you were texting and also the content of your text messages. This is unnecessary since the cops only need to know the time when you used your phone.
- Just like how breathalyzers doesn’t completely wipe off drinking and driving, textalyzer will not be able to make a huge decline. The need of the hour is to create awareness in the minds of youngsters who fall prey for such accidents the most.
Why textalyzer probably won’t affect privacy
- As the New York State government has a bill on hold that can potentially put the use of textalyzers into law enforcement, serious concerns were raised regarding people’s privacy.
- To clear the confusions off, the CEO of Cellebrite, James Grady explained that the device will only use the operating system logs to check if you were using the phone.
- According to Grady, the officer will connect the device to your phone while it is still in your hands.
- All you need to do is to unlock the screen and wait for about 90 seconds for the check to be done.
Wrapping it up
After reading facts on either sides, we can conclude that textalyzers won’t be a threat to our privacy as long as it is implemented right. In fact it will help in reducing accidents due to phone usage to an extent, even if not drastically. However, if the same device can collect data that is personal, it would be completely at the discretion of the police man who is checking the phone, which is not right. Hence, thorough supervision has to be done if textalyzers are made legal.
Also read top security apps for women.