In this
constantly improving technology era there is
likely to be widespread support for the idea of a digital code of ethics. This
is based on concerns over electronic intrusion. Scenario:
“I took a call
at five o’clock this morning,” Supt Richard Cooper told me last week. “A girl
had texted her friend to say she’d taken an overdose. She couldn’t be found.” It is now Cooper’s
job to decide whether Gloucestershire police should ask telephone and internet
companies for customer records that, in this case, could save a life.
Detectives
in Gloucestershire accept that intrusive powers should be used no more than
necessary. But they do not think these tools should be confined to serious
cases. “If someone has stolen your bike and you see it advertised online with a
mobile number to call, you expect us to find it,” one said. Senior officers
believe ethical problems arising from their powers to access communication data
are likely to become more acute as we rely ever more on electronic
communication. (Rozenberg, 2015),
According to an article in the guardian by Joshua
Rozenberg (2015), the police can obtain communication data under the Regulation
of Investigatory Powers Act, known as Ripa. Such data may provide details of
where, when and for how long a phone or a computer has been used but not the
contents of a phone or email. But then there is concern from the public
regarding invasion of privacy.
In countries
such as Jamaica, the police often visit telecommunication companies and obtain
information on suspects, although the cry about invasion of privacy is still
prominent. An example of this was portrayed in the Jamaican highly publicized case
involving popular entertainer Adijah “Vybz Kartel” Palmer. In the court
proceedings a witness from telecoms company Digicel testified that none of the 40
telephone numbers for which the police requested customer information was
“ascribed” to Vybz Kartel and his four co-accused.
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