Data Requisition: Meta Proposes Guidelines To Delhi Police

A team of Meta officials has reportedly proposed specific guidelines to the Delhi Police in connection with the data requisition process. The Indian Express reported that requests for login or logout details of social media accounts should be limited to “cases of heinous nature or significant gravity.”

The report says that this development came during an interactive session held at Delhi Police headquarters on October 27. The session, which was attended by all Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) of districts and specialised units, along with Station House Officers (SHOs) of cyber police stations, was mainly focused on cybercrime and data requisition. The Meta officials also said that a brief background of the case should be included in the information requests. There should also be an explanation to the relevance of the information sought in connection with the alleged crime. The Meta officials clarified that WhatsApp could provide only the last-seen IP addresses and current IP addresses. Also, no IP information can be provided if an account is blocked.

The Delhi Police raised several questions during the interactive session, which lasted for almost three hours. The Indian Express reported that the queries were mainly to content hash values, IMEI and device details, identification of message originators, and methods for restoring a Meta account. In response to a question to data retention, Meta officials said that the data is retained for 90 days initially and can be extended by generating a new request ID. The Meta officials also reportedly informed that a dedicated tool to detect the creators of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or non-consensual intimate images (NCII) is under development. This tool is currently in testing with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).