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As I’ve indicated in previous posts, defense attorneys for years have been trying to discover the software source code used by manufacturers of various breathalyzer models.  (See “Secret Breathalyzer Software Still Secret”)   The accuracy of these  machines, which essentially determine a suspect’s guilt or innocence, depends upon the accuracy of the software driving them; as the computer techs say, “Garbage in, garbage out”.  But the manufacturers have refused to produce the information, relying upon a claim of “trade secrets” — that is, that the code of each model is a unique creation of the manufacturer.  And prosecutors, apparently more concerned with profits than with justice, have joined them in resisting disclosure.

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New Jersey attorney Evan M. Levow was finally able to get an order from the Supreme Court of New Jersey forcing the manufacturer of the popular Draeger AlcoTest 7110 to reveal the source code. Levow turned the code over to experts, Base One Technologies, to anaylze.

Initially, Base One found that, contrary to Draeger’s protestations that the code was proprietary, the code consisted mostly of general algorithms: “That is, the code is not really unique or proprietary.“ In other words, the “trade secrets” claim which manufacturers were hiding behind was completely without merit.

Some of the more interesting excerpts from the Base One report:

1. The Alcotest Software Would Not Pass U.S. Industry Standards for Software Development and Testing

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4. Catastrophic Error Detection Is Disabled

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6. Diagnostics Adjust/Substitute Data Readings

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7. Flow Measurements Adjusted/Substituted

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10. Error Detection Logic