Police test smartphone data grab technology

Police Scotland have trialled the use of devices that can harvest private and encrypted information from smartphones, it has emerged.

A pilot project saw 18 officers trained to use a device, known as a “kiosk”, which can quickly access text messages, photos, locations, encrypted conversations on apps, passwords, contacts, web browsing history and call records, all without the owner’s knowledge.

The project, which took place at Edinburgh’s Gayfield police station and in Stirling, saw 375 phones and 262 sim cards accessed between September 2016 and January this year.

Following a Freedom of Information request, Police Scotland told a national newspaper: “All phones had to be lawfully seized for a policing purpose. This can include a device being obtained by use of a warrant or handed to police voluntarily during an investigation.

“We have previously trialled the use of kiosks in the east of Scotland for lowlevel crime, defined as that which appears from the outset to be a case likely to be prosecuted at summary level.”

Campaigners at Privacy International said police should always have to obtain a warrant before using the technology.