"Police Reported Ahead"
The Google-created mobile GPS app, Waze, is extremely popular with over 90 million active users each month. It is a community-based traffic app, this means users of the app have the ability to report traffic, car accidents and other obstacles to look out for on the road. One of the features the app has allows users to report if there are police ahead but does not allow them to say if it is a DWI checkpoint or just an officer on regular patrol.
At the beginning of this past week, the NYPD demanded that Google LLC stop the police reporting feature on Waze. The NYPD sent a letter that ordered Google to remove this feature from the app. As a user of this app, I find this “demand” uncalled for and ridiculous. This would be a clear violation of the rights of free speech Americans have that are protected by the First Amendment. The NYPD could ask Google to remove the feature but they would have no grounds to sue them over this conflict. The action of simply alerting others that cops are near is a protected action because it involves public government officials (the NYPD) and public property (the public roadways).
The letter also included the statement, “ 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 and other relevant criminal and traffic laws." This statement is not valid at all since users do not have the ability to distinguish what type of cop activity is going on the can only report “police reported ahead”. Also, if anything this would help to keep the roads safer. Even if it was a false report, a warning of police activity may cause drivers to take more caution and slow down on the roadways. If the NYPD plans to take any legal action concerning this matter it will not stand due to the protection of free speech in the First Amendment.
Comments
Post a Comment