Closed Source -> Charges Dismissed?

Snorpus writes "According to the Tampa Tribune, judges in the central Florida county of Seminole are dismissing DUI charges when the defendant asks for information on how the breath test works. Apparently the manufacture of the device is unwilling to release the code to the state, and all four judges in the county have been dismissing DUI cases when the state cannot provide the requested information. Could this apply to other situations where technical means (radar guns, video surveillance, wire-tapping, etc.) are used to gather evidence? " I'd not plan on this as a legal defense, but the question it raises - of public access to information - is an important one.

Comments

Voting machines?

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

It seems to me that one place this could really matter would be if a precedent were set that affected all the electronic voting machines cropping up in recent elections (with not such a great reputation so far, IME).

Pulic Right to how it works

[redstar427]

Does the Pulic have the right to how these devices work, or just the procedures on how they are used?

As a matter of fact, do not trust these things.

[WindBourne]

I used to work in a medical lab (first degree was in Microbio/Genetic Engineering). Many times, equipment is not calibrated correctly, or even the test underwent "sink testing". In addition, I have seen mistakes made on the code for doing calculations that resulted in wrong answers going on the door (and that was at a major lab). I am not wild about drunks being on the road, but I hate more seeing inocents being railroaded.

Re:Sounds like a huge open-source business opportu

[mwvdlee]

I went to a technical school where we were all required to do an electronics graduation project.
One group wanted to make an alcohol tester, they asked around with the police but couldn't get any information so they wound up having to invent the thing themselves (sounds a lot harder than it actually was, basic components are available).

In the end they had built in a few weeks time a machine which was much cheaper and notably more accurate than the device the police uses.

Now "cheaper" can be easily explained by the quality of the casing, being hygenic and such but "accurate"... this had me seriously doubt the quality of the devices the police use.

p.s. They apparently had a great time testing the machine!