Digital investigation powers and privacy: Recent ECtHR case law and implications for the modernisation of the Code of Criminal Procedure

With the Modernisation of the Code of Criminal Procedure, certain digital investigation powers will for the first time be given a specific statutory basis, such as the search of data carriers, open-source investigation and network searches. Nevertheless, considering the high degree of intrusiveness of such techniques, particularly with the right to privacy, it remains important to take note of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, which continues to set minimum safeguards for the interference with private life. In this paper, we therefore conduct a brief overview of recent ECtHR case law concerning five types of digital investigation powers. We then consider the implications of this case law for the regulation of such powers in the draft Code of Criminal Procedure and for the Modernisation process more broadly.