New York proposes bill to allow police to use 'textalyzer' to crack smartphones

Bill would give police permission to use instrument that can search any portable device at car crash scene to determine if it was used at time of accident

Anyone involved in a car crash in New York may soon have to submit not just blood-alcohol content but a cellphone to police at the scene, or else risk losing his or her license.

A new law proposed by state senator Terrence Murphy and assemblyman Felix Ortiz would give police permission to search any phone or portable device at the scene of an accident. Cellebrite, an Israeli company that helps law enforcement crack smartphones, is marketing a device it's calling a "textalyzer" that would analyze a driver's phone.