ACLU voices concerns over phone unlocking device wanted by SPD

Seattle police say they want a technology tool to access suspects’ phones, but some are saying the city should take a more cautious approach.

The tool, which costs $15,000 a year, is called GrayKey. It allows law enforcement to unlock a suspect’s Apple products, such as iPhones, when a judge grants a warrant.

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Seattle police say they would use it for cases involving internet crimes against children, but the ACLU is concerned it could be used for other purposes as well.

The question is whether personal privacy is at risk.

A Seattle City Council committee will review GrayKey Tuesday, but even though the ACLU had already reached out to the city about its concerns, its technology director said he was not notified about the meeting.

He said he found out about the meeting when KIRO 7 contacted him Monday, leaving him and community groups scrambling to make time to testify.

“We don’t even know what we don’t know about what data this collects, where it’s supposed to go, under what circumstances would they even get a warrant to unlock a phone,” said ACLU technology and liberty project director Shankar Narayan.

Though police say it could help solve local crimes, Narayan says it falls under the city’s 2017 surveillance technology ordinance.

“Surveillance technology is defined as something that’s primarily designed for the purpose of observing or analyzing the movements and behavior of people or groups. What is more personal than all of the data that’s stored on a cellphone?” said Narayan.

Law enforcement says GrayKey doesn’t do surveillance of any type.

KIRO 7 uncovered a memo to council members that shows a Seattle IT staff review agreed, and gave a “determination that GrayKey does not meet the definition of a surveillance technology.”

But Narayan says there are big gaps in the city’s initial assessment.

“If really they have nothing to hide, and they’re going to use this technology in ways that they feel are justified, they should come and make that case before the public,” said Narayan.

If a technology is deemed to be surveillance, it requires something called a Surveillance Impact Report. That includes a description of the technology and its capabilities, the type of data it would access, and reasonably foreseeable surveillance capabilities outside the proposed use.

The report would also lay out how data will be stored, retained, deleted, accessed and potentially shared.

And Narayan says it would include community engagement.

“It may very well be that the public on this technology says, ‘Sure, crimes against children and they’re only going to use it with a warrant, maybe that sounds reasonable.’ But we don’t really know enough about the technology and how they’re going to use it right now,” said Narayan.

KIRO 7 wanted to talk to the Seattle Police Department about how the technology would be used for its current cases, but we were referred to the city’s IT department, which referred us to the mayor’s office, which did not give us someone to interview.

As for the technology, Apple’s latest operating system has reportedly worked out a way to block GrayKey, but Apple says it will have its own program to handle requests from law enforcement for data by the end of this year.