After Thursday’s tragic events mobile phone data has gained a higher status in both media and law enforcement.In fact Guardian Unlimited believes that the democratisation of media has arrived.
The London bomb showed how ordinary tube travellers were transformed into on scene reporters and photographers. As hundreds of mobile phone videos and images flooded the television networks, it was clear that the public had gained an upper hand on the news crews. The iconic image of the devastated bus at Tavistock Square was only one of the many images taken by members of the public.
While the media begins to examine the implications of the events that unravelled in the capital, the police are also calling for people to send their mobile footage to images@met.police.uk, to help with their investigations.
In addition The Metropolitan Police have asked mobile phone and internet companies to store the content of voicemails, emails and SMS text messages that were in their systems last thursday. Police believe the data could provide vital information for the investigations into the blasts.
Currently the police have no legal authority to force the telecoms companies to store phone call and mesage data. Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said that London would seek new European Union rules to make telecom companies store records for much longer. “We believe that telecommunications records, whether of telephones or emails, which record what calls were made from what number to another number at what time, are of very important use for intelligence.”
Clarke also said he would raise the issue on Wednesday at a meeting in Brussels of European Union Interior Ministers, which he called to discuss a joint response to the bombings.