The Minnesota Department of Public Safety recently announced that all existing ignition interlock customers must move to a wireless modem by January 1, 2017, and that any new installations of ignition interlock devices after September 2016 must also use a wireless modem. This wireless modem will apply to every person on ignition interlock in Minnesota who is a participant in Minnesota’s program. Every manufacturer has this requirement, and every person who has interlock must install a modem by January 1, 2017, regardless of his or her level of offense. Despite the fact these wireless units are not required to collect GPS data, every manufacturer’s wireless modem collects it. Every manufacturer’s web portal for viewing this data prominently displays the live location data for each customer. The wireless modems are designed to report in real-time; the state is anticipating that data will be delivered and accessible by the state within five minutes of being recorded by the interlock.
Defense attorneys are alarmed at the potential for abuse of this information. Probation officers could dig into this data looking for violations not only of alcohol use, but pictures of the defendant consorting with people they should not, and to see if probationers are going places they are not supposed to be. Civil and family law lawyers, once they discover a treasure trove of information exists about an opposing party or civil defendant, can subpoena these records. There are privacy issues for families with one car and two drivers, so the privacy of a non-participant driver becomes an issue. There is also the substantial issue of the security of this data and protecting it from a data breach. The point of ignition interlock devices is to deter driving while intoxicated, not to subject people to constant government surveillance of their location.