Concern at harvesting of mobile data by police

MSPS have expressed concern that the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) was not briefed on a controversial trial of “mobile kiosks” which allowed Police Scotland to harvest data from phones handed over by witnesses and suspects.

Police Scotland spent £445,000 testing the technology in Edinburgh – just under the £500,000 investment threshold which would have meant the project had to be referred to the oversight body.

The SPA’S interim chief officer, Kenneth Hogg, told Holyrood’s policing committee that he had no concerns about the project.

But Edinburgh Northern and Leith MSP Ben Macpherson said he was “uncomfortable” the technologyhadbeenusedwithout the public’s knowledge.

Mobile kiosks can access text messages, contacts, photos and web browsing history in seconds.