Over 1000 Police Officers have been found to have installed an app to covertly record public calls on police phones. The ICO have started an investigation.
Google Play Store App
This free to download app, (ACR) ‘Another call recorder’ was approved for use in 2017. Originally this was for negotiators to use when dealing with critical situations such as kidnaps/hostages.
It’s said this app reportedly works best on older android phones.
This software is able to record and store all phone calls, saving them to the phones storage.
Problem – No Means To Restrict
ICO found this app difficult to restrict to the original purpose it was meant for, due to it being free to download from Google play.
Investigations found this app had been used to make ‘indiscriminate’ recordings with the public. 700 police phones of which 545 by Sussex and 238 by Surrey were found to have downloaded the app. By March 2020, the use of this app by police was stopped after forces found out about the practice.
Disclosure
The main legal issue to be investigated was of whether it breached the Investigatory Powers Act.
Other potential legal issues relating to the use of the app could include:
– Whether the other party on the call had been warned that they were being recorded.
– if usage of the app may have breached data protection laws. If it was used to record calls relating to a minor crime. Instead of major crime of hijacking that it has been passed for use with.
The Findings
The IPCO’s investigation concluded that:
– The app was recording the communication while it was being transmitted. This constituted recording at a “relevant time.”
– The version of the app used by police didn’t allow recordings of the calls to be automatically uploaded to cloud services. It made them unavailable to a third party while in the course of transmission. So it was only available to the app user, once the recording had been stored locally on the device. This meant that the conduct was not sufficient by itself to render the call recording “interception”. Also, the IPCO concluded that the installation and use of the app is not interception.
– Telephone calls are protected under Article 8, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The use of the app by police did constitute ‘covert’ surveillance i.e., it did not warn the other party that they were being recorded.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
It is a little shocking that hundreds of members of two police forces were using a free app for years to make arbitrary, covert recordings of people. It should be noted that the particular app used by the police is in contrast to apps used by businesses. Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. These apps inform users when a participant records the call. Their recording feature automatically warns all other parties.
As the IPCO report pointed-out both forces, upon discovery of the issue, promptly brought it to the attention of the authorities. To then take immediate steps on their own to stop the usage of the app and remove it from devices. In this case, because the app kept the recordings on the phone itself and didn’t send them to a third-party (the cloud). It was found not to be interception.
In the business world, a poll from last November showed that 32 per cent of UK workers are being remotely monitored and tracked by employers. There is concern about a lack of regulation at present and the issue of consent is very important. Under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals have a non-absolute right to respect for their private life. (UK) GDPR has some important details relating to data protection and consent that need to be considered. For businesses who want to monitor their employees the broad rules are that workers are entitled to some privacy at work. Employers must tell employees about any monitoring arrangements and the reason for it. Also, employers should have procedures in place setting out what is and what isn’t allowed. These procedures should be made clear and understood by all workers before monitoring begins. Employers must have a genuine reason to conduct any monitoring such as criminal activities or malpractice. Any monitoring should be limited, targeted and within certain times.
