XPost: sac.politics, misc.survivalism, alt.law-enforcement   
   XPost: alt.privacy   
   From: ceeya@kenyan.com   
      
   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/wireStory/sheriffs-popular-   
   police-tracking-app-disabled-28479609   
      
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