Court Orders Breathalyzer Code Opened, Reveals Mess

Death Metal writes with an excerpt from the website of defense attorney Evan Levow: "After two years of attempting to get the computer based source code for the Alcotest 7110 MKIII-C, defense counsel in State v. Chun were successful in obtaining the code, and had it analyzed by Base One Technologies, Inc. By making itself a party to the litigation after the oral arguments in April, Draeger subjected itself to the Supreme Court's directive that Draeger ultimately provide the source code to the defendants' software analysis house, Base One. ... Draeger reviewed the code, as well, through its software house, SysTest Labs, which agreed with Base One, that the patchwork code that makes up the 7110 is not written well, nor is it written to any defined coding standard. SysTest said, 'The Alcotest NJ3.11 source code appears to have evolved over numerous transitions and versioning, which is responsible for cyclomatic complexity.'" Bruce Schneier comments on the same report and neatly summarizes the take-away lesson: "'You can't look at our code because we don't want you to' simply isn't good enough."

Comments

Re:But does it work?

[cayenne8]

"What I'm not sure is the role that breathalysers have in the conviction process. If the cop is an independent observer, then both he and the machine are likely to agree before a judge convicts. But if the cop is swayed by the readings, then there is no serious review of the machine's results. My guess is that the cop thinks you're guilty when he pulls you over, so the machine is just justifying his position after the fact, but I have no way of knowing if that is really the case."

Talked to a lawyer about my state. If I were to get pulled over, and knew I was over the now ridiculously LOW limit of .08...the smart thing to do is not say a word. If the cop wants you out of the car, at that point he is taking you to jail no matter what, so I will not give him any evidence. I will refuse the field tests (nothing more than filming you stumbling as evidence), and put my hands out for the cuffs. I'll refuse to take any tests too. Here, that will result in loss of license for a year I think, but, you won't have a DWI on your record, and worse they can charge you with is usually wreckless driving. A good lawyer, and you get suspended license,but usually a permit that will allow you to drive to work, for food...etc.

It would suck, but, at least no DWI on your record. Check with your state laws first...know what they do and what your rights are, but, the one thing that hold true...shut up, and lawyer up for anything he cops arrest you for, even if you are innocent.