We all fear those blue lights in our rear view mirrors. Getting pulled over takes years off your life. You almost fear that the police officer can hear your heart pounding in your chest. And god forbid if you had a beer earlier. We all know this is much more important than trying to find real criminals. So he asks you to step out of the car and the real fun begins...
Cops use breathalyzer readings as evidence against you in court...if your charged with a DUI. Most people just accept that these machines are accurate...after all, the police are here to protect and to serve us.
The Intoxilyzer 5000EN, a breathalyzer machine used by Minnesota law enforcement, is coming under fire across the country. Defendants are requesting to see the device's source code to test for inaccuracies. For those of you non-software engineers out there, it is the language a human writes that will be compiled so a "machine" can read and execute it. Blah blah, thats enough techy stuff for today :)
Ok, lets get right to it.
- The accused claim, in their defense, that they have a right to view the source code.
-CMI Inc., the company that owns the Intellectual Property, feels that they should not have to release the code since they own it.
So, what do you think? Tell us your opinion in the comments section.
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3 comments:
I'm sure that this will be tested in trial and deemed unconstitutional. It is scary to think you could get a dui for having one beer because the breathalyzer was wrong.
I would definitely agree. These things should really be tested especially given the severity of the situation.
I think that IP rights simply do not stand a chance here.
The company shouldn't be forced to give up its intellectual property rights simply because a group of people uses its product to imprison someone.
The manufacturer isn't to blame for producing a product. The police decided to purchase a magic electronic box that gives them an output that they use to imprison people while choosing to remain ignorant about what occurs inside of it and possible design flaws. Is it not obvious that complete disclosure regarding the
People just like you and me are being deprived of the inherent freedoms of man based on the word of the manufacturer and a trust in the ability of law enforcement to have the brains and ethics to use it properly. The ignorant waste of our tax dollars to buy a box they know little about is what's wrong. So is the idea that its accuracy is taken as absolute truth by police, prosecutors, and judges who allow this in their courtrooms.
Keep in mind that such a false reading could involve much more serious charges than a dui.
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