Advanced Search
Content Type: Press release
Friday, March 25, 2022
Today, the High Court ruled that the Home Secretary acted unlawfully and breached human rights and data protection laws by operating a secret, blanket policy of seizing, retaining and extracting data from the mobile phones of asylum seekers arriving by small boat.
This claim for judicial review was brought by three asylum seeking claimants: HM represented by Gold Jennings, and KA and MH represented by Deighton Pierce Glynn. The Claimants, like thousands of others arriving by small boat, all…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Friday, March 25, 2022
Background
Today judgment has been handed down in the landmark case of R (HM and MA and KH) v Secretary of State for the Home Department.
This is a Judicial Review decision concerning the UK Home Office’s secret and blanket policy of seizing mobile phones of all migrants who arrived to the UK by small boat between April 2020 and November 2020, and extracting data from all phones. PI was a third party intervener in the case.
The case revealed that migrants were searched on arrival at Tug Haven…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Around the world, we see migration authorities use technology to analyse the devices of asylum seekers. The UK via the Policing Bill includes immigration officers amongst those who can exercise powers to extract information from electronic devices. There are two overarching reasons why this is problematic:
The sole provision in the Policing Bill to extract information rests on voluntary provision and agreement, which fails to account for the power imbalance between individual and state. This…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Tuesday, June 29, 2021
It is difficult to imagine a more intrusive invasion of privacy than the search of a personal or home computer ... when connected to the internet, computers serve as portals to an almost infinite amount of information that is shared between different users and is stored almost anywhere in the world.
R v Vu 2013 SCC 60, [2013] 3 SCR 657 at [40] and [41].
The controversial Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill includes provision for extracting data from electronic devices.
The Bill…
Content Type: Explainer
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
What are ‘cloud extraction tools’ and what do they do?
Cloud extraction technology enables the police to access data stored in your ‘Cloud’ via your mobile phone or other devices.
The use of cloud extraction tools means the police can access data that you store online. Examples of apps that store data in the Cloud include Slack, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and Uber.
How might cloud extraction tools be used at a protest?
In order to extract your cloud data, the police would need to…
Content Type: Explainer
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
What do mobile phone extraction tools do?
Mobile phone extraction (MPE) tools are devices that allow the police to extract data from mobile phones, including:
contacts;
call data (i.e. who you call, when, and for how long);
text messages (including who you texted and when);
stored files (photos, videos, audio files, documents etc);
app data (including the data stored on these apps);
location information history;
wifi network connections (which can reveal the locations of any…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill is currently being scrutinised by numerous civil society organisations such as Amnesty International UK and Liberty for its damaging impacts on peaceful protests, however it also contains important provisions regarding when, if and how the police and other governmental authorities can extract data from your phones and other electronic devices.
Chapter 3 of the PCSC Bill is a legislative response to the UK's Information Commissioner's Office…
Content Type: Long Read
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
There are few places in the world where an individual is as vulnerable as at the border of a foreign country.
As migration continues to be high on the social and political agenda, Western countries are increasingly adopting an approach that criminalises people at the border. Asylum seekers are often targeted with intrusive surveillance technologies and afforded only limited rights (including in relation to data protection), often having the effect of being treated as “guilty until proven…
Content Type: Report
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
In December 2019 Privacy International made submissions to Police Scotland in relation to documents designed to explain to the public how cyber kiosks will work and what information will be given to victims when Police Scotland extract data from their phone.
Police Scotland rely on 'consent' to seize a phone from a victim. We believe the lack of information provided to the individual regarding extraction, examination, retention, deletion, sharing and search parameters undermines that any…
Content Type: Video
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
You’re a witness or a victim or a suspect of a crime; or even just travelling going on holiday. Officials demand your phone, then disappear with it. What happened to your phone? What happened to your data? What will happen to you?
We all generate vast amounts of data using our mobile phones - more than most of us are aware of - and that data has become increasingly attractive to law enforcement agencies around the world, enabled by ‘extraction technologies’ supplied by companies like…
Content Type: Case Study
Monday, February 24, 2020
Anyone who is arrested should be informed of the reasons for their arrest and any charges against them. Anyone who is detained is also entitled to a trial within a reasonable time, or to be released if no charges are held against them.
Privacy enhances these protections. It provides limitations on the manner in which information can be obtained about you, and the kind of information that can be accessed about you by law enforcement, who can access that information and how they can use it.…
Content Type: Advocacy
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
In December 2019 Privacy International made submissions to Police Scotland in relation to documents designed to explain to the public how cyber kiosks will work and what information will be given to victims when Police Scotland extract data from their phone.
Police Scotland rely on 'consent' to seize a phone from a victim. We believe the lack of information provided to the individual regarding extraction, examination, retention, deletion, sharing and search parameters undermines that any…
Content Type: Press release
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Following Police Scotland’s announcement that they will be rolling out cyber kiosks to police stations across Scotland. Open Rights Group and Privacy International have released a statement:
Open Rights Group and Privacy International called on Police Scotland to prevent rolling out until the Scottish Government reformed the law to provide an overarching framework for the seizure of electronic devices in Scotland in line with human rights standards. That recommendation has not been heeded by…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Thursday, November 14, 2019
In the last few months strong concerns have been raised in the UK about how police use of mobile phone extraction dissuades rape survivors from handing over their devices: according to a Cabinet Office report leaked to the Guardian, almost half of rape victims are dropping out of investigations even when a suspect has been identified. The length of time it takes to conduct extractions (with victims paying bills whilst the phone is with the police) and the volume of data obtained by the police…
Content Type: Long Read
Monday, October 14, 2019
In this piece we examine mobile phone extraction, relying on publicly available information and Privacy International’s experience from conducting mobile phone extraction using a Cellebrite UFED Touch 2. We welcome input from experts in the field. This is a rapidly developing area. Just as new security features are announced for phones, so too new methods to extract data are found.
[All references can be found in the pdf version below.]
General explanation of mobile phone extraction
Mobile…
Content Type: Report
Thursday, September 12, 2019
“...a mobile device is now a huge repository of sensitive data, which could provide a wealth of information about its owner. This has in turn led to the evolution of mobile device forensics, a branch of digital forensics, which deals with retrieving data from a mobile device.”
The situation in Scotland regarding the use of mobile phone extraction has come a long way since the secret trials were exposed. The inquiry by the Justice Sub-Committee, commenced on 10 May 2018, has brought much…
Content Type: Explainer
Monday, June 24, 2019
We look at the recently published report on forensic science in the UK, highlight concerns about police not understanding new tech used to extract data from mobile phones; the risk of making incorrect inferences and the general lack of understanding about the capabilities of these tools.
The delivery of justice depends on the integrity and accuracy of evidence and trust that society has in it. So starts the damning report of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee’s report…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
It's a big question, have you purchased a card for your local surveillance camera on Surveillance Camera Day?
Yes, Surveillance Camera Day is a real thing and happens on 20 June.
Perhaps your local community could create a bingo card to see who knows where all the local cameras are. Are there any on your local bins, how about the lampposts or a billboard?
Have you had a facial recognition van in your local community? Did you see the police helicopter crew video camera filming you…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Thursday, May 16, 2019
We look at the recently published report on forensic science in the UK, highlight concerns about police not understanding new tech used to extract data from mobile phones; the risk of making incorrect inferences and the general lack of understanding about the capabilities of these tools.
The delivery of justice depends on the integrity and accuracy of evidence and trust that society has in it. So starts the damning report of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee’s report…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
A mobile device is a huge repository of sensitive data, which could provide a wealth of information about its owner and many others with whom the user interacts.
Companies like Cellebrite, MSAB and Oxygen Forensics sell software and hardware to law enforcement. Once your phone is connected to one of these mobile phone extraction tools, the device extracts, analyses and presents the data contained on the phone.
What data these tools can extract and what method is used will depend on the…
Content Type: Long Read
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
(In order to click the hyperlinks in the explainer below, please download the pdf version at the bottom of the page).
Content Type: Press release
Friday, August 3, 2018
Creative Commons Photo Credit: Source
Have the police been unlawfully hacking our phones? Privacy International refers this question to Lord Justice Sir Adrian Fulford, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner
Privacy International has formally written to the UK's Investigatory Powers Commissioner about the police's use of intrusive 'mobile phone extraction' (MPE) technology, raising concerns about whether in some, or indeed in all circumstances, its use constitutes either an interception of…
Content Type: News & Analysis
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Following on from the publication of our ‘Digital Stop and Search’ report last month, into the use of intrusive technology that enables officers to download all of the data stored on our mobile phones, we are pleased that Scotland's Justice Sub-Committee on Policing have been scrutinising Police Scotland over their use of the technology.
During the hearing by Scotland's Justice Sub-Committee on Policing on 10th May John Finnie MSP stated he personally did not feel reassured, after grilling…
Content Type: Press release
Thursday, April 26, 2018
We found this picture here.
Privacy International has today a issued a formal complaint to the UK Information Commissioner about the police’s use of intrusive ‘mobile phone extraction’ technology, enabling them to download all of the content from a person’s phone — without a warrant, and whether they are suspect, witness or even victim of a crime. Further complaints have also been sent to the Home Office and the Independent Office for Police Conduct, calling for urgent reforms to a totally…
Content Type: Report
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
The ‘Digital stop and search’ report examines the use of ‘mobile phone extraction’ tools by the UK police, enabling them to download all of the content and data from people’s phones.
Privacy International have exposed a potentially unlawful regime operating with UK police forces, who are confused about the legal basis for the technology they are using. The police are acting without clear safeguards for the public, and no independent oversight to identify abuse and misuse of sensitive personal…
Content Type: Press release
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Key points:
Privacy International have today published a report entitled 'Digital Stop and search: how the UK police can secretly download everything from your mobile phone', based on Freedom of Information requests to 47 police forces across the UK about their use of 'mobile phone extraction' technologies, which enable them to download all the content and data from a mobile phone.
Police forces across the UK are secretly downloading data from the smartphones of people across the UK,…
