The New York Police Department would like Google to stop tracking its Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) checkpoint locations.
Over the weekend, the NYPD sent a cease-and-desist letter to Google over a feature in its Waze app that marks police locations. According to the document obtained by NYC Streetsblogs, the NYPD is specifically concerned about the listing of police DWI checkpoints.
“Individuals who post the locations of DWI checkpoints may be engaging in criminal conduct since such actions could be intentional attempts to prevent and/or impair the administration of the DWI laws,” says the letter. “The posting of such information for public consumption is irresponsible since it only serves to aid impaired and intoxicated drivers to evade checkpoints and encourage reckless driving.”
According to the letter, the NYPD claims it “will pursue all legal remedies to prevent the continued posting of this irresponsible and dangerous information.”
SEE ALSO:Google Maps wants to help you avoid that speeding ticketWaze, a mapping application that relies on detailed crowdsourced driving conditions, was acquiredby Google for around $1 billion in 2013. The app has long tracked this kind of information. Users are able to report on the location of police officers as well as speed traps and cameras.
"Safety is a top priority when developing navigation features at Google,” said a Google spokesperson in a statement provided to Mashable. “We believe that informing drivers about upcoming speed traps allows them to be more careful and make safer decisions when they're on the road."
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) national president Helen Witty echoed Google’s beliefs in a statement to the New York Times.
“If you are impaired, you are not going to pay attention to that information,” said Witty who highlighted that publicizing these checkpoints aids in educating people about the consequences of drunk driving. “The goal is to make everyone aware that if you drink, don’t drive, and if you drive, don’t drink.”
This isn’t the first time these Waze features have drawn the ire of police officials. At a National Sheriffs Association meeting in 2015, attendees raised concernsover Waze’s ability to “stalk” officers. While the organization had no official position on the app, the chairman of its technology committee at the time said Google should remove the features as a “responsible corporate citizen.”
The newfound interest in Waze’s police tracking is likely due to an earlier earlier reportconcerning some of these features coming to Google Maps. The search giant start rolling out speed trapand speed limitnotification features in Google Maps, the most popular navigation app, earlier this month. Mashable broke that these features would be soon coming to all of the apps users in the U.S. and nearly a dozen other countries.
TopicsGoogle
(责任编辑：百科)
Pole vaulter claims his penis is not to blame
Shareholders force Exxon to plan for a future where it can't burn all the oil
Trump Twitter bot reminds us that all his tweets are coming from the White House
This guy survives in the wild with nothing but a bunch of everyday tech gadgetsDespite IOC ban, Rio crowds get their political messages acrossSamsung Galaxy Note7 teardown reveals the magic behind the phone's iris scanner
Samsung's Galaxy Note7 is touted by many reviewers as one of the best, if not the best, smartphones
...[详细]'Finstas' can be boring or funny or sexy — but they're always real
Don't believe everything you read about "finstas," the secret Instagram accounts currently puzzling
...[详细]Google just launched a GIF maker to make your data look better
Google wants to help make your research look better.To help journalists share their research and tel
...[详细]iOS 11 will help you conserve precious iPhone storage
We've all been there: that dreaded pop-up letting you know you're almost out of storage.While there
...[详细]Watch MTV's Video Music Awards 2016 livestream
It's MTV Video Music Awards night. Are you ready?Kanye's going to be there, and he's going to say th
...[详细]Lace shorts for men are the new RompHim and honestly we're kinda here for them
Not everyone's sold on the idea of the RompHim, a version of the hellish all-in-one garment that mak
...[详细]Rocket Lab successfully launches rocket into space from New Zealand
After several weather delays, Rocket Lab successfully launched its Electron rocket from its Mahia pe
...[详细]Even for LeBron James, 'Being black in America is ... it's tough'
You can be LeBron James. You can be an all-time great at your profession, and a man idolized by mill
...[详细]Make money or go to Stanford? Katie Ledecky is left with an unfair choice.
This is Katie Ledecky's world right now, and the rest of us are just living in it. Want proof? Ledec
...[详细]Harvard will offer a course based on 'Game of Thrones'
Finally, a way to justify all those hours spent binge-watching HBO.Pulling a page from University of
...[详细]Chinese gymnastics team horrifies crowd with human jump rope
Shareholders force Exxon to plan for a future where it can't burn all the oil