A road safety advocate says he has briefed Ontario's transportation minister on the 'textalyzer' device, currently being reviewed in several U.S. states, which can track a user's texting activity.
The device has been scrutinized for privacy concerns in other jurisdictions, as well as the Israeli-based company who developed it, Cellebrite.
But lawyer and advocate Patrick Brown says it's time for such a device, which is plugged into a cell phone, to be used to curb texting and driving.
"It's not to capture content, it's solely capturing activity and what the type of activity is," he said.
Brown also serves as the head of the Vulnerable Road Users in Ontario, and said in a recent meeting with Minister Caroline Mulroney, he brought up several safety measures including the textalyzer.
"My understanding is it was something that she said she'd certainly look into," he said.
In a statement, the ministry said it continues to monitor new or enhanced enforcement tools as part of its ongoing evaluation of the provincial distracted driving law.
"Any new detection tools and their potential use would be something we would need to review with our enforcement partners and other ministries," it said, which would include the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General.
"Such a review would include addressing any privacy concerns, as many individuals store personal information in cellphones."
Privacy expert and former Privacy Commissioner of Ontario Ann Cavoukian, said there would have to be a thorough and independent review of the technology and the company.
"How can we be assured of the fact that the police can't access the content of the communications and only access whether they are in fact texting, at a particular time and place, I don't know how you can obtain that assurance," she said.
Cellebrite claims it can hack into any iPhone and came into the spotlight in 2016 in connection to the San Bernardino, California shooting the year before.
Apple and the FBI got into a legal battle over the company's refusal to unlock the shooter's phone, which multiple reports say the FBI then resorted to Cellebrite to get in, although the agency disputes that claim.
The Immigration, Enforcement and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also signed a $30 million contract with Cellebrite this summer, according to the Daily Best.
Brown acknowledges any use of the device would have to be limited to activity and not content.
"Taking it any further would be improper," he said.
He said one regulation if it were to be used would require the presence of the phone's user.
"I don't think that that would be unreasonable in any way and it would certainly afford people who are suspicious of police using information that they otherwise wouldn't have access to, to ensure that that doesn't happen," he said.
Brown said an ideal use would be police using it as soon as they get to a crash site, and using it on a driver's phone to see if a text was sent or a screen was swiped.
But he also thinks it should be used if there's a probable cause, such as police observe a car suddenly swerve or some other suspicious driving.
Cavoukian, director of the Global Privacy and Security by Design Centre, said these are the sorts of legal issues that would have to meet a high standard.
"Absent a warrant, to do this automatically, they have to make the case to us," she said. "The police have to make the case that they can access this data without infringing on people's privacy by gaining access to all the communications on the cellphone."
"The onus is on them."