FOI 0633 - 2023/24 - Payments Made to Telecom and Social Media Firms for Customer Information

Request:

Payments made by police forces to telecom and social media firms for customer information between the years 2018 and 2023.

Specifically, I am requesting the following information:

Q1. The total amount of money paid to telecoms firms (including the names of these firms) for call data and personal details of their customers during the specified period (2018-2023).

Q2. A breakdown of these payments by year, indicating the amount paid to telecoms firms for each year within the requested time frame.

Q3. Information on the specific types of customer information (e.g., call records, personal details) that were acquired from the telecoms firms.

Q4. The total amount of money paid to social media firms (including the names of these firms) for data and/or details of their customers during the specified period (2018-2023).

Q5. A breakdown of these payments by year, indicating the amount paid to social media firms for each year within the requested time frame.

Q6. Information on the specific types of customer information (e.g., call records, personal details) that were acquired from the social media firms.

Response: 

Extent of Searches to Locate Information

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision

I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.

In order to retrieve the requested information, for Q3 & 6, it would be necessary to manually review all call data applications to see what specific information was requested, this would involve reading hundreds of reports, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. 

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, we may be able to provide information for part 1, 2, 4 and 5 of your request if you resubmit and omit part 3 and 6.  If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.