Now, Delhi Police will have access to Facebook private chats
What's the story
Joining hands with the Delhi Police, Facebook will now provide details of private chats to the police for sensitive cases, specifically pertaining to crimes against women and children. A meeting was held between the social networking authorities and the cyber wing department regarding this on Friday. Currently, Facebook does not share private chat details with investigators. Here's more on this.
Details
Meeting attended by Facebook US and India team
On Thursday, all cyber wing department heads from various districts and specialized units received a message about the meeting. The meeting was held at a conference hall of the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) from 11 am to 3:30 pm. The meeting was attended by the US team of Facebook as well as Facebook India (Trust and Safety) head, Satya Yadav.
Meeting
Police discussed need of victims' chats to gather clues
A senior officer told media that there were several rounds of discussion during which "officers shared their problems with Facebook officials and also requested them to provide additional details while working cases". "Police personnel told them that while probing some kidnapping for ransom cases, they need to scan chats of the victim to gather clues," another officer said.
Assurance
Facebook to provide details after considering gravity of cases
The officer further said, "Facebook assured the police personnel that they will provide them the chat details, but only after thoroughly considering the gravity of the cases, like if it relates to women and children." Some personnel also brought up issues such as Facebook taking time to respond to their requests and asked the social networking website team to provide details faster.
Other details
Police also asked for IP register, IP logs when required
For cops needing details in a time-bound manner, Yadav shared his email id and his other personal details to the personnel. "Police officers requested them (Facebook) to provide IP register, IP logs, mobile numbers and emails as and when required," the officer said. Delhi Police Commissioner, Amulya Patnaik, had earlier told the press that cybercrime will be the focus of Delhi Police in 2019.