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from the Not-that-NSA,-the-other-one. dept.
The US National Sheriffs' Association wants Google to block its crowd-sourced traffic app Waze from being able to report the position of police officers, saying the information is putting officer's lives at risk.
"The police community needs to coordinate an effort to have the owner, Google, act like the responsible corporate citizen they have always been and remove this feature from the application even before any litigation or statutory action," AP reports Sheriff Mike Brown, the chairman of the NSA's technology committee, told the association's winter conference in Washington.
Waze, founded in 2008 and purchased 18 months ago by Google for $1.1bn, has about 50 million users who anonymously share their locations to help gauge road traffic flows. The app also allows police reports and road closures to be added to maps and shared with other users.
Brown called the app a "police stalker," and said being able to identify where officers were located could put them at personal risk. Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said his members had concerns as well.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/26/nsa_gunning_for_google_wants_copspotting_taken_off_waze_app/
(Score: 1) by Anal Pumpernickel on Wednesday January 28 2015, @03:13PM
Which 1st Amendment right protects owning a radar detector?
You're picking up communications. The government also can't stop everyone from hearing something.
And rather, where in the constitution does it give the government the power to prohibit you from owning one?
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday January 29 2015, @02:37AM
You're not answering the question. But we're getting into "the Constitution doesn't say anywhere that I shouldn't have the right to own nukes" territory again, and that's an argument I'd rather not have again.
The government also can't stop everyone from hearing something.
Legally, maybe not. Pragmatically? Sure. Ever since the Supreme Court ruled the NSA wiretapping was legal (when CLEARLY a blatant violation of the Constitution) I've lost any faith in our government abiding by its own rules. It's been too many generations since those in power actually believed in them.
And rather, where in the constitution does it give the government the power to prohibit you from owning one?
Well, the Constitution delegates all powers not assigned to the federal gov't to the states, so that's something right there. State government is at least closer to the people so you should in theory have more power to effect change there if you want to.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1) by Anal Pumpernickel on Thursday January 29 2015, @02:54AM
Well, the Constitution delegates all powers not assigned to the federal gov't to the states, so that's something right there.
That's the states, and the states are still bound by the bill of rights (and often have similar things in their constitutions). I was speaking of the federal government in that instance, but that doesn't matter since the federal government just does whatever it pleases.