Discussion: Whatsapp End to End Encryption Repercussions for Seized mobile phones

[KB19]

I do agree that to prove innocence I would gladly hand over phones keys passwords etc , however the way the police did it in our case I do not agree with they waited ( and watched me) go back to my workplace went to our house and took OH to station - in reality they could have been there when I was there , but alas think it was all five for Fa snd family who live nearby and in fact they must have been in the house for a long time as it was mid afternoon and did not get dark until about 6 and when I got back there it was lit right up every single bulb and even outside lights on and all curtains/ blinds open . They already had taken whilst Oh there his phone the computers and I pads so.

Re the What's App point - if any if you have allegations that are historic and the phones were not around st that time seems so wrong that they can take them, yep there are some who use them for the wrong reasons but overall I do think there should be a limit on how long they can keep them for as when you have a FA don't get take theirs I bet not.

[LondonTeacher]

Walking nightmare, RF has a point. In historical child sex abuse cases, the police cannot recover text messages between the accuser and the suspect if it happen many years ago but as RF mentioned they will analyse the phone to see if the suspect has a sexual interest in children. They will look for anything incriminating such as Google search terms, sexually explicit chat logs with children or indecent images of children. The police can add separate charges if any of the above is found plus the prosecution will use the fact the suspect has an interest in children to help them build the case.

[LondonTeacher]

KB19,

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. I wasn't happy with how my flat was searched.
After the interview at the police station, I was released on bail.

When I got home, my flat was in a mess. The cops left paper all over my bed and I had to do a clean up for 20 mins. It was in a state!

I was gonna complain but I didn't bother. The interviewing DC had a nasty and bullying attitude! It's a nightmare and I want it to be over soon!!

[Rights Fighter]

I think the police make it up when faced with a situation whereby this is a false allegation and they need the conviction.

I don't know how WhatsApp works. I used it for a short while but it pissed me off with notifications of messages from people I don't know, and given that I can contact people, and they me in other ways, I removed it.

We seem to be losing focus that the falsely accused are in the minority at the moment. Thousands of people view disgusting images (quaintly known as "illegal images" or "child porn") online every minute of every day, no doubt more than thousands.

I can fully understand why phones and other gadget have to be investigated. What I do not like is when the police tell supporting family members that "we've found something interesting on his phone / iPad/ tablet etc" when in fact they found bog all on them. They do that to isolate the accused further from support.

I know of one guy who was accused of taking illegal images, and when it got to trial, some of those who removed from the indictment. One of them was a woman taking a dog for a walk in a park (I suppose they thought that might be bestiality) and another one of a guitar standing against a lampstand - I kid you not. God alone knows how the police and CPS interpreted that to be illegal........

[LondonTeacher]

RF, it baffles me really when I consider that the CPS decide to prosecute an individual just because she walked a dog in the park.

I do have pictures of my pet cat and I on my phone- will they classify that as indecent/bestiality?

I thought that charging someone and bringing them to court cost money. How do such cases pass the Full Code test for prosecutors?

1. The evidential stage
2. public Interest stage


Will it be in the public interest to take such cases to court? This is getting ridiculous!!

[Casehardened]

GCHQ rely on listening for key words in messages flying through the ether in order to determine which recipient might be of 'interest'.

I imagine anyone with nefarious intentions to now immediately download the Whatapp app. I suppose I may be being alarmist and they already do this anyway by some other means; i.e. I believe the Blackberry smartphone had this feature when it was launched and caused some controversy at the time.

Far more likely is the use by activists promoting incidents of social disorder 'live' and anxious for police not to eavesdrop on their plans.