- Jan 24, 2011
- 9,378
GPS trackers on vehicles; stingray devices to siphon mobile phone IDs and their owners' locations; gunshot-detection sensors; license plate readers: these are just some of the types of surveillance technologies used by law enforcement,often without warrants.
Now, US police are protesting the fact that citizens are using technology to trackthem, and they want Google to pull the plug on it.
The technology being used to track police - regardless of whether they're on their lunch break, assisting with a broken-down vehicle on the highway, or hiding in wait to nab speeders - is part of a popular mobile app, Waze, that Google picked up in 2013.
Waze describes itself as "the world's largest community-based traffic and navigation app".
It lets people report accidents, traffic jams, and speed and police traps, while its online map editor gives drivers updates on roads, landmarks, house numbers, and the cheapest nearby fuel.
Waze relies on a user base that is 50 million strong, with users all over the world and complete map sets for at least 14 countries, and counting.
It also gives drivers a heads-up when police are nearby, using two settings: an icon for hidden police, or an icon for visible officers.
That puts officers in danger and enables users to stalk police, sheriffs claim, and thus Google should do the 'right thing' and shut it down.
Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, who's also the chairman of the National Sheriffs Association technology committee, raised concerns about the technology over the weekend at the association's winter conference in Washington, The Associated Press reports.
Read more: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/01/27/google-asked-to-muzzle-waze-police-stalking-app/
Now, US police are protesting the fact that citizens are using technology to trackthem, and they want Google to pull the plug on it.
The technology being used to track police - regardless of whether they're on their lunch break, assisting with a broken-down vehicle on the highway, or hiding in wait to nab speeders - is part of a popular mobile app, Waze, that Google picked up in 2013.
Waze describes itself as "the world's largest community-based traffic and navigation app".
It lets people report accidents, traffic jams, and speed and police traps, while its online map editor gives drivers updates on roads, landmarks, house numbers, and the cheapest nearby fuel.
Waze relies on a user base that is 50 million strong, with users all over the world and complete map sets for at least 14 countries, and counting.
It also gives drivers a heads-up when police are nearby, using two settings: an icon for hidden police, or an icon for visible officers.
That puts officers in danger and enables users to stalk police, sheriffs claim, and thus Google should do the 'right thing' and shut it down.
Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, who's also the chairman of the National Sheriffs Association technology committee, raised concerns about the technology over the weekend at the association's winter conference in Washington, The Associated Press reports.
Read more: https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/01/27/google-asked-to-muzzle-waze-police-stalking-app/
