UK Police “digital strip search”
In 2019, the UK Police brought in new regulations on how police officers should gather data-based evidence to investigate certain criminal cases. Under the policy, police can request that the victims of crime, including victims of sexual violence, give consent to the full download of their mobile phone and social media data. Police officers were informing victims that, should they not provide consent to this data extraction, they ran the risk of the investigation into their complaint being dropped. BBW refers to this as a “digital strip search.”
DFF supported Big Brother Watch to gather evidence and prepare an expert statement to assist and strengthen a legal challenge to this policy brought by two victims of rape, represented by the Centre for Women’s Justice. Big Brother Watch fed their expertise and research into the claimant’s pre-litigation correspondence and supported the litigation with an advocacy campaign.
UK Police “digital strip search”
Organisation Name
Big Brother Watch and Centre for Women’s Justice
Country/Jurisdiction
United Kingdom
Amount Granted
Big Brother Watch: EUR 15,004
Centre for Women’s Justice: EUR 55,407
Current Status
Case partially won
Grant type
Single Instance Litigation Support
Description
In 2019, the UK Police brought in new regulations on how police officers should gather data-based evidence to investigate certain criminal cases. Under the policy, police can request that the victims of crime, including victims of sexual violence, give consent to the full download of their mobile phone and social media data. Police officers were informing victims that, should they not provide consent to this data extraction, they ran the risk of the investigation into their complaint being dropped. BBW refers to this as a “digital strip search.”
DFF supported Big Brother Watch to gather evidence and prepare an expert statement to assist and strengthen a legal challenge to this policy brought by two victims of rape, represented by the Centre for Women’s Justice. Big Brother Watch fed their expertise and research into the claimant’s pre-litigation correspondence and supported the litigation with an advocacy campaign.
In July 2020, before the court hearing took place, the UK Police announced they would revoke the “digital strip search” policy and would draft an interim policy that limits police access to the digital devices of victims.
DFF is supporting Centre for Women’s Justice with additional funding to support preparation for further follow up litigation.
"Police can request that the victims of crime, including victims of sexual violence, give consent to the full download of their mobile phone and social media data."
Strategic Goal
That the UK Police reform their regulations for collecting data-based evidence to better protect victims of crime from unjustified digital intrusion and invasive data collection.
Media and related links
Organisation Name
Women’s Link Worldwide
Image credit: Sora Shimazaki from Pexels