What data can Google and WhatsApp provide about their users after a court decision, as in the case of the Attorney General?

NinFan

What data can Google and WhatsApp provide about their users after a court decision, as in the case of the Attorney General?

Attorney, case, court, cybersecurity, data, Decision, General, Google, News and Updates, provide, users, WhatsApp

The legal process opened against Álvaro García Ortiz, Attorney General of the State, continues to advance in an attempt to resolve his responsibility in the leak to the media of Alberto Gómez Amador's tax filepartner of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. After the prosecutor's phone tracking procedures and the request for information about the calls to the telephone companies, Judge Ángel Hurtado will now ask WhatsApp and Google to help him recover messages from applications installed on the two cell phones by García Ortiz and in your email account.

At the request of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, Judge Hurtado ordered the issuance of a letter rogatory to the two technology companies so that they provide all the required data and know precisely whether the prosecutor was involved in the escape. to the media on emails between Gómez Amador's lawyer and the prosecution. For that, asks WhatsApp for messages received and/or sent by the userChat backups and communication logs.

Concerning Google, the judge of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court requests data stored in account-related services and productsbackups of linked devices, third-party applications, chats and communication logs, with crucial data such as date, time, origin, destination or type of communication.

State security forces have the authority to request copies of information from companies related to an ongoing investigation. However, “access to these companies that usually operate or have their data outside the European Union is very limited”, according to statements to EL ESPAÑOL – El Androide Libre de David DelOlmocomputer forensic expert specializing in mobile devices.

Requests for letters rogatory and judicial authorizations are generally slow and, according to the expert, “in many cases we will only obtain access data, but not the content of the messages, which is encrypted“. In this case it would be necessary “to carry out a forensic analysis on the mobile device and then compare the data with the operator, if they wish to collaborate”. EL ESPAÑOL – El Androide Libre contacted representatives of Google and WhatsApp in Europe , but until the closing of this edition they have not made any statement and refer to their respective privacy policies.

This is how WhatsApp handles

In the case of WhatsApp, the Meta company assures in its Help Center that “does not disclose the content of its users' messages in response to government requestsand he can't do it either. “End-to-end encryption” ensures that only you and the person you are communicating with can read or hear what you send. » The text, image or video leaves the device that sends it encrypted and It remains so until it reaches the mobile phone designated as recipient. No one, not even WhatsApp itself, can view the content.

Currently, when companies like Meta receive, through a court order, a request to notify the police or a judge of a suspect or accused in a criminal investigation, they can provide data such as name, contacts, activity times and other information, but never the content of messages, which is protected by an end-to-end encryption protocol. This information is only kept on the phone in use or, if the user chooses, in the phone's cloud backup associated with a Drive account.

WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted

WhatsApp chats are end-to-end encrypted

Unsplash

Omicron

Government agencies are sending requests for user data to WhatsApp, more than 300,000 between January and June 2024 internationally, according to the latest report published by Meta. In the case of Europe, this figure drops to 3,100 requests in legal proceedings corresponding to 5,765 accounts or users, with 66.3% of cases in which requests produced dataalthough these are not specified.

To check whether these requests comply with applicable laws and WhatsApp privacy policiesthe company “has a specialized and trained compliance team that reviews and evaluates each government request for user data, to determine whether the request was sent in the context of an emergency or as part of a legal proceeding emanating from police or government authorities.

Meta-Transparency Portal Report on User Requests for Information

Meta-Transparency Portal Report on User Requests for Information

Meta

Free Android

If the cell phone from which the communications were made is found, David del Olmo explains that, in the case of WhatsApp, the information “is stored in the device's local database, so recovery of deleted messages without access to backup is technically possible in some cases.” It will all depend “on the appropriate tools, the level of encryption and any physical or logical limitations of the device.”

This is how Google manages

For its part, the Internet giant explains very clearly how it proceeds in these cases in the general conditions of service published on its website. “At Google, we receive requests for disclosure of user information from government agencies around the world. We carefully review each of these requests to ensure that they comply with applicable laws,” they say in the statement. section “How Google handles government requests for user information'.

Gmail

Gmail

Justin Morgan

Unsplash

“If a request asks for too much information, we try to limit it and, In some cases, we refuse to provide information in its entirety. In the Transparency Report, we publish the number and type of requests we receive,” they conclude.

There is, however, a nuance, since the response to these requests depends on Google's service provider: Google LLC, being based in the United States, is governed by American law, while Google Ireland Limited, the Mountain View service provider in Europeoperates under Irish law.

Cada seis meses, y en aras de la transparencia, Google publica un detallado informe sobre el número de solicitudes gubernamentales de información sobre usuarios y el número de cuentas sujetas a estas solicitudes, lo que puede dar una pista fiable sobre el resultado final de las diligencias solicitadas por el magistrado del Supremo. 

En el último tramo registrado, desde enero hasta junio de 2024, Google recibió más de 7.180 solicitudes gubernamentales de información correspondientes a 11.368 cuentas en todo el mundo. De todas ellas, en el 85% de los casos (una media aplicable también a España) se generaron datos, aunque la compañía no precisa el tipo o el detalle de esa información.

Informe de transparencia de Google


Informe de transparencia de Google

Google

El Androide Libre

En el caso de los correos electrónicos, en principio, no están protegidos por el cifrado de extremo a extremo (como sí sucede con aplicaciones de mensajería instantánea como WhatsApp). Desde hace un tiempo, los usuarios de Gmail sí cuentan con el Modo Confidencial, un candado que permite “cifrar los correos en el lado del cliente” y cuyos destinatarios no podrán reenviar, copiar, imprimir o descargar el correo, salvo si tienen la contraseña definida por el emisor.

En cualquier caso, si después de la detallada revisión por parte de su equipo jurídico, Google envía los datos requeridos por el juez, éste podrá acceder a la información de registro del usuario (nombre, información de creación de la cuenta, direcciones de correo electrónico asociadas, número de teléfono…), las direcciones IP de inicio de sesión y las marcas de tiempo correspondientes a cada correo, e incluso al contenido de los mismos.

Leave a Comment