Slashdot Mirror
UK Police Roll Out On-the-Spot Mobile Data Extraction System
Qedward writes "The Metropolitan Police has rolled out a mobile device data extraction system to allow officers to extract data 'within minutes' from suspects' phones while they are in custody. 'Ostensibly, the system has been deployed to target phones that are suspected of having actually been used in criminal activity, although data privacy campaigners may focus on potentially wider use.'"
Why not just have all cell phone communications pass through government servers where everything can be easily skimmed and saved?
Seems like it would save a lot of trouble.
Looks like the UK beat Michigan to the punch.
http://slashdot.org/story/11/04/19/2231240/michigan-police-could-search-cell-phones-during-traffic-stops
Can they verify the extracted information?
Why yes, I HAVE been on the phone with Barack Obama recently, and YES I REALLY DID receive a phone call from the prime minister, only 15 minutes ago. So why don't you uncuff me and let me go before they call back?
I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.
To be gunned down in my house by the cops, when they come looking for me.
So I'll gladly give up all my rights, and betray the American way.
'Cause there ain't no doubt I don't wanna die, that's why I will obey.
How do you know someone is a "suspect"? If there's already some other evidence, however light, that someone is a culprit (such as a witness statement), then fine, arrest him and take the phone, too.
That is how you determine someone is a suspect, you have some amount of evidence that is not enough to prove that the person is guilty of a crime.
Otherwise, I think this is just one of those circular reasoning things: he's a suspect because there might be incriminating information on his phone. We're checking his phone for incriminating information because he's a suspect. (Oh, and, he's a suspect because we suspect there might be incriminating information on his phone.)
No, how do you think a search warrant is issued? There has to be at least some evidence for the police to suspect that someone is involved in criminal activity, hence the term 'suspect' applied to such a person.
The Metropolitan Police are in London. That's one city. It's the capital city, and it's a pretty big city, so there is a police force that deal with pretty much just that. They don't even deal with the outlying parts of the Greater London area.
If the police in Washington DC rolled this out, would you say "US Police"? No, because that would be stupid. It's one city, not the whole country.
We need a kill gesture. Some way to immediately block access to the phone's info while the phone corrupts its information beyond readability. No signing in with a login code, just do *this* sequence of key presses or gestures, and the phone initiates its info-apoptosis. Why isn't there an app for this?
Touchscreen just broke on my damned phone. Maybe if I drive over there they can tell me who these last 4 texts are from.
Bear in mind that the UK consists of four different countries and a bunch of principalities, and at least one country - Scotland - has entirely different laws and indeed an entirely different legal system to all the rest. About the only thing we share with the rest of the UK is our currency and our mains voltage.
I know you're making with the funnies, but yes, they do use these things, problem with using then is Ofcom's monitoring will flag them up for further investigation (encrypted transmissions being somewhat illegal in the UK).
Real Criminals in the UK use cheap PAYG mobile phones, as you can purchase them without having to provide any sort of ID (and they're smart enough to have other people to purchase them to avoid the old 'look-sir-we-have-you-on-camera-buying-a-phone-where-is-it?' questions if they're the sort of Real Criminal who appear on the 'usual suspects' list). The cheapest phones are less than a tenner, they're effectively one-shot/disposable devices.
Of course, the idiot criminal classes (low end drug dealers et al) who do not treat their phone as a disposable tool and still use their Crackberrys etc for all their dodgy dealings, they're screwed.
Of course, the only other class of person in the UK far too attached to their mobile phone who may keep way too much information stored on them likely to be used against them in a court of law are Mr&Mrs joe public..and they don't know it.
Just as a light example, all those 'racist'/'off colour' jokes you've been sending your friends/received from friends...say hello to my little friend the Communications Act 2003 (section 127 (1)(a))
Bear in mind, the legal test for 'offensiveness' here is whether the message/image/video/audio would cause gross offence *to those to whom it relates*, *not* the recipients of said communication.
Did I mention the fact that some of the really cheap PAYG phones don't have any sort of USB/DATA connection ports?, I suppose there's always JTAG..somewhere..
April came, UK internet starts being censored to protect companies that are still posting record profits while reducing their staffing head count and Avoiding taxes like every big company in the UK does lately. TPB is the big one but I am annoyed because this is the start of censoring based on what companies want over the requirements of the people that keep paying for this country. Funny thing 3 days ago we have the list of unfairly blocked websites, http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/05/14/1816217/report-highlights-10-sites-unfairly-blocked-by-uk-mobile-internet-censorship?utm_source=commentcnt&utm_medium=feed to ANYONE that is reading this going but TPB was bad, well why is the UK censoring www.biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk on UK mobiles as hate speech? We also have the Tory MP Claire Perry who is standing in front of MPs saying the internet should be opt in to stop kids seeing porn, yet when asked about sexual based images in her old new paper she blows that off as up to the editor and harmless. So on one hand this women is saying the UK people are too stupid and need an opt in system while saying that established new papers are free to do what they want. Double standards amaze me. and Let’s not forget that this women comes from a new paper as well, the new corp had their girl brooks in with the government, i guess it’s time that a few other papers try and mould some of the government.
:/) . I just spent 15 minutes looking for a way to encrypt the hard drive of my phone, seems i will have to jailbreak it to get the protection i want out of my hardware.
:/ sorry
Now we have the police stating they will rip a copy of your phone and we all know this will happen for the most minimal event. Get pulled over for speeding, "let me check you phone" your data will be pulled, all your contacts, all your images (with EXIF info because you would not have had time to clear it (EXIF can hold GPS data about where the photo was taken)) and it’s all going to be logged (did you know the UK police are only meant to keep your finger prints for a set time if you are not charged, to day this database has never once been trimmed
A few months ago I would have said the UK is in serious trouble, I think it’s become fcuked in a very short space of time, there is no national sprit, the unemployed are restless with no hope, my generation is being r@ped for every pounds the government can get to support an aging population. I have had to stop driving because the cost of petrol is so high; my food bills have gone up 20-25% in a year. My wages are not going up but the middle class tories just tell everyone it’s time to tighten your belts. I have nothing left to tighten. I am just under 30, only a few of my friends are on the housing market, the ones that are have all had help from their parents or grandparents. I do not know one person my age that went to uni and is now in a position to afford a house in the UK without the help of someone else (caste system take 2, you don’t have to do the job of your parent but you better hope they can support you while you find your profession). Funny stat i read yesterday, in the 1960s you could buy a house for 1.5 times the min annual salary, today that number is now 6-7 times the minwage in the UK. At this rate I will never own a house, I can barely afford to drive anywhere, and i am going to spend my whole life paying for a country that spent the money before I was even really in the job market. I mean i was at school and uni while labour was pushing billions in to the public sector to improve their stats. and now why am I paying for it? why were my parents giving a chance yet I am forced to work to pay for others errors.
omg this is just a rant
Finally I want to say one thing, I want to introduce a tax system based on ag
ICS has FDE built in, and it is very slick and simple to use.
There is a new generation of openmoko phones in the works. These phones are much more trustworthy than closed phones with binary blob OS that has been tampered with by the network provider as well. As far as I know nobody has user friendly LUKS support, but it shouldn't be too hard to add. http://projects.goldelico.com/p/gta04-main/
Or carry a bastardized phone designed by retarded engineers...
I have a Dell Streak, it has a bizzare version of the iphone dock connector, but it's wired differently and if you put in a iphone cable you pretty much blow up the phone.
So my phone has built in anti police search technology!
Thanks moron dell engineers!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Remove battery. Place battery into glove compartment. Lock glove compartment. Sorry officer, it's locked. I'm going to need a warrant for that search and seizure.
I've got Little Bobby Tables in my address book, and looking forward to The Met uploading my contacts into their database...