UK riots: Mobile phone operators help police to identify looters

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Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act requires phone companies to hand over data about calls to and from a handset

Mobile phone operators T-Mobile and Orange are prioritising police requests for information about the phones used to organise the wave of looting and riots hitting British cities.

Everything Everywhere, which owns the T-Mobile and Orange brands and operates over a third of UK mobile phones, confirmed Tuesday that police had begun sending requests for information under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act – RIPA.

A spokesperson said: "We are working with the police and the authorities on this through RIPA and prioritising all requests related to the riots."

RIPA requires phone companies to hand over data about the locations calls were made from, the owners of phones, and lists of calls made to and from a particular handset.

The BlackBerry Messenger service is claimed to have played a key role in helping rioters organise the violence that has swept the country since trouble began in Tottenham on Friday, with gangs using the service to arrange the times and locations of looting.

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) said Monday it was already engaging with police. In a statement the company said: "We feel for those impacted by the riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can."

The Canadian company added: "We comply with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and co-operate fully with the Home Office and UK police forces," RIM said in a statement on Monday.

Simon Bisson, a technology expert writing at IT news site ZDNet, said the police would be able to track down which handsets had been used to organise rioting by asking RIM for traffic patterns. Information about those handsets can then be requested from mobile phone operators to pinpoint the location from which messages were sent and calls made.

Bisson, who has handled law enforcement for internet service providers, wrote: "The operators will have procedures in place, and may well have started data collection as soon as the trouble began in Tottenham."

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan police said: "We are not prepared to discuss specific tactics we may or may not employ".

• UK riots
• Mobile phones
• Telecoms
• BlackBerry
• Police

Juliette Garside

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Cory Doctorow 10 Aug, 2011

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-mobile-phone-operators
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