DailyPost 2926
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION – THE IT / SOCIAL MEDIA SPOKE!
Are IT companies in general and social media companies are a spoke in the wheel for criminal investigations globally? The heat of these companies is more felt outside of the US with regards to criminal investigation non-cooperation, as they cannot play around much there, given the fact of their geographical location, and being technically in direct control of US law. While being global players they behave in different manner to different requests for information / data by the law enforcement agencies. Their legal position might be at slight variance in different countries with regards to the country’s data protection and privacy laws.
The law enforcement, investigation and at times intelligence components operation remain the same in every sovereign country and more so if it is a democratic country. What is both intriguing and dangerous is that the IT/ social media companies sit in judgement over the request of an agency of a sovereign democratic nation. There are any number of instances where they quote their own rules and try to get away with it. These companies are in many ways coming in direct confrontation with the sovereign status of nation states. We have seen such issues playing out in the legal battle pertaining to the FBI’s request to access the iPhone used by a shooter in the San Bernardino attacks.
How decisively or otherwise the governments were able to act on Al-Qaeda’s extensive use of social media remains unknown. If there were any investigations, what is the nature of legal cooperation they got out of social media companies? The legal liability of the digital / data intermediaries still seems to be unsettled. Privacy Vs Security is not the paradigm, both have to function seamlessly, delivering what the law mandates and there are ways and means of doing it and it has happened in a variety of areas. Now this is again right here in our backyard. WhatsApp is not feeling the heat in India.
Legal history will be made in this country, in the recent registration first-of-its- kind case in Haryana. The case pertains to WhatsApp officials refusing to provide details regarding a fraud case. A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the IT Act for not sharing the required user data tied to a fraud complaint. This case pertains to a person being scammed of Rs. 4 crores. The case revolves around fraudulent WhatsApp numbers used to carry out the scam. Officials of WhatsApp refused to share details about these numbers. The case is against the officials for non-cooperation and obstruction of investigation. “This case is expected to set a precedent in how digital platforms handle data requests from law enforcement in India.”
IF LEFT UNCHECKED SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES HAVE THE TECH POTENTIAL AND FINANCIAL CLOUT TO SABOTAGE GENUINE INVESTIGATION.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.