News: Researchers say a breathalyzer has flaws

Jason Lantz, a Washington-based defense lawyer, enlisted a software engineer and a security researcher to examine its source code. The two experts wrote in a preliminary report that they found flaws capable of producing incorrect breath test results. The defense hailed the results as a breakthrough, believing the findings could cast doubt on countless drunk-driving prosecutions.

The two distributed their early findings to attendees at a conference for defense lawyers, which Draeger said was in violation of a court-signed protective order the experts had agreed to, and the company threatened to sue.

Their research was left unfinished, and a final report was never completed.

Draeger said in a statement the company was protecting its source code and intellectual property, not muzzling research.


The research might reveal the fact that unless it is fresh out of the box, it is pretty much useless.


One section in the report raised issue with a lack of adjustment of a person's breath temperature.

Breath temperature can fluctuate throughout the day, but, according to the report, can also wildly change the results of an alcohol breath test. Without correction, a single digit over a normal breath temperature of 34 degrees centigrade can inflate the results by six percent -- enough to push a person over the limit.

The quadratic formula set by the Washington State Patrol should correct the breath temperature to prevent false results. The quadratic formula corrects warmer breath downward, said the report, but the code doesn't explain how the corrections are made. The corrections "may be insufficient" if the formula is faulty, the report added.

Issues with the code notwithstanding, Washington chose not to install a component to measure breath temperature, according to testimony in a 2015 hearing, and later confirmed by Draeger.


So breath temp has an effect on the device's ability to check the BAL and they choose not to get the model with the temp sensor...

Kyle Moore, a spokesperson for Washington State Patrol said the police department "tested and approved the instrument that best fit our business needs," and believes the device can produce accurate results without the breath temperature sensor.


Since when are police departments looked at as a "business"?



I hate drunk drivers, but the devices need to be accurate if they are going to be able to be used against somebody in court. Maybe the solution is to have a second breath test from the same machine done immediately following a blood draw to confirm or deny the results of the machine.
 
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