Who Can Use Your Data? Forensic Evidence in the Digital Age
On Thursday 17 November, the Commissioner will be participating in an event hosted by the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee. This event will highlight some of the challenges concerning the application of digital forensic evidence. The Commissioner will briefly discuss how digital forensics techniques deployed by Police Scotland can recover biometric data (mainly images or voice) from the devices of suspects, victims, and witnesses in circumstances where such data can then enter the chain of evidence from crime scene to court and, as highlighted in his recent annual report, will discuss the need for Police Scotland to improve the scientific validity and reliability of current approaches.
The Commissioner will also speak about the new statutory Code of Practice for biometric data which takes legal effect in Scotland on 16 November 2022, and what this might mean in terms of better legal and ethical safeguards, including a related public complaints mechanism and means of redress in circumstances where any data subject believes that the use of their personal biometric data by the police may have contravened any of the general principles contained within the Scottish Code of Practice approved by the Parliament.