Who searches your phone? Part 2

Our cell phones store all kinds of data, from photos, videos, and e-mails, to information about our health, the locations we visit, and the leisure activities we engage in. When a crime is committed, this information can be useful for investigation authorities to obtain evidence and prove facts.

To this means, they use mobile forensic extraction tools. These are hardware and software systems developed by private companies and procured by security forces and prosecution offices, which seize the information saved in phones.

This report is a follow-up of the research study Who searches your phone?, published by the Association for Civil Rights (ADC) in December 2021. This release focuses on the use of forensic extraction tools of the Argentinian National Police Force or Gendarmerie (GNA) and the City of Buenos Aires Police, as well as prosecution offices of both jurisdictions. In addition, it deepens the legal interpretation of these tools and inquires into border security and migration issues in an incipient manner.

Finally, it offers a series of recommendations addressed to the Judiciary, the City Legislature and the security forces to be considered for the regulation and use of mobile forensic extraction tools in observance of due process and the right to privacy.