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Law Enforcement Wants Popular Police-Tracking App Disabled



 
 
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Old January 27th 15, 08:00 AM posted to sac.politics, misc.survivalism, alt.law-enforcement,rec.autos.driving, alt.privacy
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Default Law Enforcement Wants Popular Police-Tracking App Disabled

Law enforcement is concerned that the popular Waze mobile
traffic app by Google Inc., which provides real-time road
conditions, can also be used to hunt and harm police.

Waze is a combination of GPS navigation and social networking.
Fifty million users in 200 countries turn to the free service
for warnings about nearby congestion, car accidents, speed
traps, traffic cameras, construction zones, potholes, stalled
vehicles or unsafe weather conditions.

Waze users mark police — who are generally working in public
spaces — on maps without much distinction other than "visible"
or "hidden." Users see a police icon, but it's not immediately
clear whether police are there for a speed trap, a sobriety
check or a lunch break.

To some in law enforcement, this feature amounts to a stalking
app for people who want to harm police. They want Google to
disable that feature.

The growing concern is the latest twist in Google's complicated
relationship with government and law enforcement. It places the
Internet giant, again, at the center of an ongoing global debate
about public safety, consumer rights and privacy.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck complained in a letter to
Google's chief executive on Dec. 30 that Waze could be "misused
by those with criminal intent to endanger police officers and
the community."

The Los Angeles Police Department said Monday it had not heard
back from Google about whether it had addressed Beck's concerns.

Google purchased Waze for $966 million in 2013.

There are no known connections between any attack on police and
Waze, although Beck said Waze was used in the killing of two New
York Police Department officers on Dec. 20. The Instagram
account of the gunman in that case included a screenshot from
Waze along with other messages threatening police.

Investigators do not believe the shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley,
used Waze to ambush the NYPD officers, in part because police
say Brinsley tossed his cellphone more than two miles from where
he shot the officers. In his letter to Google, Beck said that
Brinsley had been using the Waze app to track police since early
December.

"I am confident your company did not intend the Waze app to be a
means to allow those who wish to commit crimes to use the
unwitting Waze community as their lookouts for the location of
police officers," Beck wrote.

Some officers, like Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County,
Virginia, think it's only a matter of time before Waze is used
to hunt and harm police.

"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," said Brown, who
raised the issue at a National Sheriffs' Association meeting in
Washington January 23.

Google declined to comment and directed questions to a Waze
spokeswoman, Julie Mossler, who said the company thinks deeply
about safety and security. She said Waze works with the New York
Police Department and others around the world by sharing
information.

"These relationships keep citizens safe, promote faster
emergency response and help alleviate traffic congestion,"
Mossler said.

The NYPD did not respond to questions about Waze.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wir...riffs-popular-
police-tracking-app-disabled-28479609

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  #2  
Old January 27th 15, 03:24 PM posted to sac.politics, misc.survivalism, alt.law-enforcement,rec.autos.driving, alt.privacy
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Default Law Enforcement Wants Popular Police-Tracking App Disabled

In article >
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Flush.

 




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