Privacy International submission to Police Scotland on cyber kiosks

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 seizure which is for the purpose of examination can be informed. 

We believe Police Scotland's focus on 'consent' gives an illusion of involvement and empowerment of the victim or witness, when in reality, withdrawal of consent may have little or no impact on whether or not the Police will continue with the extraction. This is because they can rely on separate legal powers and are not forced to return the phone.