Obtaining Digital Evidence under UK Law
Elif Mendos Kuşkonmaz, Ian Walden · Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2025
Chapter 20 focuses on the UK legal landscape around the investigatory powers of UK law enforcement authorities (LEAs) and the duties of service providers to cooperate with them. The primary legislative framework from which LEAs derive their powers to obtain digital evidence is the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. The chapter examines the different categories of data that may be requested from communication services providers and the legal procedures governing such lawful access. It also looks at other legal sources available to LEAs, to provide a comprehensive framework for cooperation between service providers and LEAs in obtaining digital evidence. Last, the chapter explores the cooperation of UK LEAs with non-UK-based service providers, as well as that of UK-based service providers with foreign LEAs.