Six commitments
These are the promises DashStar will be held to. Each one comes with the way you will be able to check it.
Honest status. DashStar is a research prototype for an M.S. thesis. The prototype does not yet meet every commitment below. Bringing it in line comes before anyone else runs DashStar, and the checks described here will be published when they exist.
The commitments
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Plates that match nothing are discarded on the device within seconds.
No plate that matches nothing is saved or sent, and no video ever leaves the device. For a match, as designed, the device sends a cropped image for review: the vehicle and its plate by default, or just the plate when the vehicle crop is too large or the vehicle is not fully in frame. Other vehicles' plates and bystanders' faces in the crop are blurred on the device. The location and time of the sighting go with it.
How it will be checkedA published discard test: a recording with no matching plates is run through a device, then the disk and logs are searched to show no plate text or image remains.
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No location trail: only a match carries a location.
DashStar never records where cars, or you, have been. Every match event carries the location and time of the sighting, because a sighting is useless without them. They go to the authorities only after the MOAT Safety desk confirms the match, and volunteer reviewers never see them. Nothing else ever carries a location. Drivers acknowledge this when they opt in.
How it will be checkedA published list of every field that can leave a device, showing that the match location is the only location among them, and the quarterly transparency report confirming nothing else was collected.
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A human reviewer confirms every match, and by default the driver hears only "do not follow".
No one is contacted before a person confirms the match. During the pilot, that person will be James Isaac Kay, founder of MOAT Safety. By default, the driver hears only "do not follow". A driver who opts in also sees a notice marked unconfirmed that says do not follow and gives the number to call. No driver is ever asked to follow, chase, approach or engage anyone.
How it will be checkedThe transparency report counts matches, rejections, confirmations and calls. The count of calls made without a human confirmation must be zero.
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Training capture is opt-in only.
Footage is never used to train models unless the driver turns that on separately.
How it will be checkedThe setting ships switched off, the published policy states the default, and the transparency report counts how many devices opted in.
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Accuracy and a quarterly transparency report will be published.
Including the numbers that look bad, such as false matches.
How it will be checkedThe method for measuring accuracy is published before the results. Each quarterly report is dated and stays online. Accuracy has not been measured yet.
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DashStar only matches against official public alerts.
Only alerts that include a vehicle or a plate: AMBER, Silver, Endangered Missing and similar alerts, plus stolen-vehicle alerts and suspect alerts, such as Blue and Yellow alerts, in the states that issue them. Whatever the alert, drivers never follow or engage, ever. The full list for each state is published only after it has been verified. DashStar never takes private watch-lists or requests to look for a particular plate.
How it will be checkedThe active alert list will be public. Each entry links to its official source and expires with the alert.
DashStar will never
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Sell data
Not to anyone, in any form.
Checked by: no bulk-data or lookup feature exists to sell, and funding sources will be listed on the support page.
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Join police networks
No integration with police plate-reader networks or systems.
Checked by: every call follows a human confirmation, goes to a public phone line rather than a police system, and is counted in the transparency report.
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Offer bounties
No rewards for matches, sightings or calls.
Checked by: nothing in DashStar pays or ranks drivers or reviewers for matches.