Judge issues landmark decision after Google Translate tricked a man into giving consent to police

guest · Jun 16, 2018

Judge issues landmark decision after Google Translate tricked a man into giving consent to police
June 15, 2018
http://bgr.com/2018/06/15/google-translate-ruling-not-legal-for-consent/

Google Translate can do many things. One thing it can’t do, according to a judge — help you provide constitutionally-required consent to a police officer.
[...] His attorneys filed a motion to suppress the evidence. Why? Google Translate, they argued, didn’t meet the threshold of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

An officer, once he realized Omar spoke limited English, started using Google Translate on his laptop to communicate with him. Omar eventually revealed he had $7,700 in cash in his car that he was using to buy a car to take back to Mexico. The officer asked if he could search the car, typing that question into Google Translate, and then for emphasis using two fingers to point to his eyes and then the car.

[...] The court found that the defendant was struggling to understand the officer’s questions at points throughout their interaction, even though he was using Google Translate.

It’s why the court noted that Google Translate often provides a “literal but nonsensical translation.” One that misses the context, in other words.
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mirimir · Jun 16, 2018

That's a very sensible decision. But I do wonder what the defendant thought "Can I find the car?" meant.

BriggsAndStratton · Nov 7, 2018

The judge did the right thing

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Judge issues landmark decision after Google Translate tricked a man into giving consent to police

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Judge issues landmark decision after Google Translate tricked a man into giving consent to police

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