Frisco DWI Lawyer & Attorney Blog
I last posted regarding CMI’s refusal to reveal their source code here. Apparently, court orders do not seem to phase this "government contracting" juggernaut. CNET now reports that CMI has missed their deadline for turning over the source code. According to CNET:
The next step is a court hearing scheduled for September 19, Underdahl’s attorney, Jeffrey Sheridan, told CNET News.com in a phone interview on Tuesday. At the hearing, Sheridan is expected to ask the judge to throw out any evidence the state had obtained using the the Intoxilyzer 5000EN. If the judge agrees, at least one charge–that his client was driving with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit of .08–would likely be dismissed.
Sheridan had predicted in an interview with CNET News.com last month that the Minnesota state public safety commissioner would not supply him with the source code to the device, as ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court, by the August 17 deadline.
I understand their arguments, "proprietary information, and all" but I don’t buy it. This is a device that is used to convict people. Take away their freedom. Restrict future jobs and earnings. Gets people fired from existing jobs. Takes away MILLIONS of dollars from people through fines, court costs, and attorney’s fees.
In a recent post by fellow DUI/DWI blogger Lawrence Taylor, he reports that another Breathalyzer, the Draeger AlcoTest 7110, was forced to turn over their soucecode. In his blog, he reports several problems with the code, including:
1. The Alcotest Software Would Not Pass U.S. Industry Standards for Software Development and Testing
2. Catastrophic Error Detection Is Disabled
3. Error Detection Logic problems.
Quite honestly, I don’t fault CMI for the way they were acting. If most people/corporations could get away with this type of behavior, they would. Why do you think Enron or other large corporations didn’t want to turn over their books??? What is most disappointing to me is that State agencies continue to contract with this company. That is where I place the fault in this "secret convicting machine" fiasco.