UK police may confiscate phone numbers and personal data of travelers at the border without giving a reason

In this case, an indication of the reason for removing the phone and downloading all the information from the device (contacts, photos, etc.) is not required. It's hard to believe, but, according to The telegraph, thousands of travelers have already undergone this procedure on the UK border. It doesn’t matter whether you arrived by plane, ship, or on foot by train. All this is allowed by the police as part of the work of anti-terrorism legislation.

As mentioned above, the most unusual detail of all this is that the police have the right to seize any phone / smartphone without indicating an obvious reason for the seizure. Call history, contacts, photos (probably video too), addresses / phone numbers of those to whom the owner sent e-mail and sms. Messages themselves are not inspected.

According to the publication, about 60 thousand travelers are “stopped and checked" according to the above principle, guided by the Terrorism Act 2000. Unfortunately, the exact number of seized devices remains unknown. Among other things, according to the Terrorism Act 2000, the police can detain a passenger for 9 hours to find out if he / she is a threat to the security of the country and citizens. At the same time, people can be detained without the permission of higher authorities, only the will of the policeman is enough.

In general, all this happens far from the first day, but only now the question has been raised. Independent expert on anti-terrorism law, David Anderson, intends to propose some changes to the Terrorism Act 2000, given all of the above problems.

At the same time, police officials have already stated that the seizure and inspection of personal devices is not carried out right and left, but only under appropriate circumstances.

Nevertheless, it is worth knowing that any person entering the country can be stopped, and without indicating reasons to remove his smartphone by downloading data to a police computer.

Via theverge + telegraph