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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.'"

12 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. Too cumbersome by busyqth · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:Too cumbersome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      And I, for one, welcome our ne.....err...current overlords.

    2. Re:Too cumbersome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Already happens.

      Everything sent through Cell phones, or land lines goes through a switch site, there it is mirrored, basically copied to giant memory banks for Government use. They may not access it without a search warrant, but you can bet that it's all there. Calls and texts.

  2. Hack your phone by FranTaylor · · Score: 4, Funny

    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?

    1. Re:Hack your phone by isorox · · Score: 5, Funny

      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?

      Yes, that's working well for Rebekah Brooks.

    2. Re:Hack your phone by coder111 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Agreed, hack your phone. Install cyanogenmod + LUKS encryption for user data + sdcard, and you are good to go (it's all alpha quality for now, but possible. With more active users it could be made convenient). I wish meego/maemo/tizen would succeed so that we have some alternatives to this...

      Of course, there are issues of UK police forcing you to hand over the encription keys (they have a legal right to do that in UK). And GSM/mobile network drivers are binary and probably a huge rootkit- your mobile can be forced to run any code by your mobile network operator. And your calls and texts are logged by mobile operators/government anyway. So you won't be able to hide much.

      --Coder

  3. It's not "the UK". by Gordonjcp · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

  4. need a kill gesture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

  5. Re:Yeah, because... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  6. In the Last few weeks wtf is happening by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    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 :/) . 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.

    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 :/ sorry

    Finally I want to say one thing, I want to introduce a tax system based on ag

  7. Or just use Ice cream sandwhich by brunes69 · · Score: 3, Informative

    ICS has FDE built in, and it is very slick and simple to use.