Miami Cops Actively Working to Sabotage Traffic App Waze With Fake SubmissionsPolice in Miami are taking a page out of the vigilante playbook of many Los Angeles communities in an effort to sabotage the crowdsourced traffic app, Waze. Sgt. Javier Ortiz of the Miami Police Department tells NBC 6 Miami, It puts us at risk, puts the public at risk, because its going to cause more deadly force encounters between law enforcement and suspects. According to the news outlet, officers in the city have decided to fight back. Hundreds of officers downloaded the app to try and steer the data in the wrong direction [by reporting false information on their activity], the news outlet reports. This mirrors the actions taken by many angry Angelenos who have grown tired of Waze directing shortcut-seeking driver onto quiet residential streets. These citizens have banded together in recent months in the hope of sabotaging or at least redirecting Wazes crowd-sourced guidance by reporting false congestion in their neighborhoods. As I wrote at the time, PhD students at Israels Technion University proved that it was possible to impact Waze with mountains of noisy data. The problem is, the students then reported the issue to the company, which then patched many of these existing vulnerabilities. Further stacking the deck against the officers, the Technion group relied on a set of algorithms that automated the task of making many thousands of fake Waze accounts and repeatedly reporting traffic congestion. A few hundred police doing so manually is unlikely to have a profound affect on the system which includes more than 50 million users globally. A Waze spokesperson told CBS Los Angeles at the time, Fake, coordinated traffic reports cant come to fruition because theyll be negated by the next 50 people that drive down the street passively using Waze. Police partners support Waze and its features, including reports of police presence, because most users tend to drive more carefully when they believe law enforcement is nearby. Waze users rely on the apps alerts not only to navigate around traffic congestion, but also to avoid things like speed traps, sobriety checks, and other checkpoints. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel was similarly dismissive of the plan, saying, If someone is suffering mental illness and they want to commit a heinous crime or hunt a deputy or a police officer; they dont need Waze to do that. Google agreed to acquire Waze in 2013 for $1.3 billion precisely because of its crowdsourced data model which results in what many consider the best real-time routing in the market. Early reports indicated that the deal would not draw scrutiny from the FTC but report earlier today from Bloomberg calls into question that decision. With Googles backing this debate over privacy and safety takes on an even broader context. Waze wouldnt be the first Google-owned property to take proactive steps to ensure officer safety. YouTube, along with non-Google platforms Facebook and Twitter, actively warns law enforcement about potential threats posed by its users. As it stands, it seems unlikely that the Miami officers efforts will have much impact on Waze, either in the near-term functionality of its platform or in the companys broader approach to reporting law enforcement locations. Any change, which is hardly guaranteed, will likely have come at a national level and as a result of regulatory intervention, not at the point of a virtual bayonet. Written by Michael Carney, originally posted on Pando and TruthVoice. A.K.A. You cannot watch us, but we can and will watch you. reports of police sightings, complete with time and location, represents a threat to their safety. Thats probably true, because less stable people are responding negatively to the dangerous environment that the police themselves have created through their thuggish behavior. There was a time when law-abiding citizens felt SAFE with the presence of police in their midst; now, it has become extremely dangerous to be human or any other animal in their presence. This is a case of karma, or as the common people say, what goes around comes around. Maybe if theyd try changing their behavior, begin acting like humans, neighbors, and people willing to help instead of demi-gods, theyd be much safer on the streets. I know WE sure would be! ah yes, the cops placing false reports.. it is no different from the FALSE REPORTS they file when they MURDER SOMEONE to cover up their crimes! Known pathological liars inevitably are also psychopaths! reports of police sightings, complete with time and location, represents a threat to their safety. This is not about safety its all about Generating More Revenue from traffic tickets. IF they have nothing better to do with their time, like finding maybe some real criminals, FIRE THEM ALL!!!!!! 