WhatsApp Group Chats And Digital Privacy

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. Among its many features, messages sent between the app's estimated 1.5 billion users are subject to "end-to-end" encryption. This means that office gossip, cat photos and selfies shared on the app should be safe from the prying eyes of third parties.

But what happens if messages sent in a private WhatsApp group end up in the hands of a third party - specifically an employer who is conducting an investigation into one member of the group? Can the group messages be relied upon to form the basis of misconduct charges against other members of the group?

This was the question that arose in the recent case of BC and others v Chief Constable Police Service of Scotland.

The factual background

The case began with a police investigation into a constable suspected of committing sexual offences. The investigating officer came into possession of the suspect's mobile phone. On reviewing its contents, the investigating officer came across messages sent between several police officers in a private WhatsApp "group chat".

Some of these messages, although not relevant to the original purpose of the investigation, revealed potential misconduct by other officers. The investigating officer referred the messages to the Professional Standards Department within Police Scotland. After reviewing these messages, the Professional Standards Department brought internal misconduct charges against several officers (the "accused officers").

The legal issue

According to the accused officers, these messages were the only evidence which the Professional Standards Department sought to rely on in relation to the misconduct proceedings. If these messages were deemed off-limits, the misconduct charges would likely have to be dropped. So the accused officers turned to the courts. They sought an order, by way of judicial review, to prevent the Professional Standards Department from using the messages.

The nub of the accused officers' legal argument was that since the messages were sent in a private group, their use in the context of misconduct proceedings against them amounted to a violation of their privacy.

Across the Atlantic in the United States parties often seek to have evidence excluded from proceedings on the basis that the way in which it was obtained constituted an invasion of their privacy. For instance, in a big win for privacy advocates, the United States Supreme Court recently held that in order to...