Turkish Interior Minister, Süleyman Soylu, demonstrated a controversial mobile app called “KİM” (a Turkish word that means “who” in English) in a video posted on YouTube on Sunday.
Soylu claimed that the app can identify a person in just two seconds after taking their photo with a smartphone. However, the app has been criticised by lawyers and politicians for violating personal data processing regulations.
The video shows Soylu driving a car and demonstrating the “domestic and national” app to the Youtube channel’s founder, Hakkı Alkan, who asks him to describe its features. Soylu says, “This is more valuable than WhatsApp, and it has all the features.” He then takes Alkan’s photo, scans it with the app, and, in 1.9 seconds, receives his identity data.
The screen shows Alkan’s name, his assumed picture, and surname. The identity number is displayed with a question mark.
Soylu states that the app “filters everything on social media and all events in Turkey.” He explains that the app is exclusive to him and that it can follow everything happening in the country.
The app has come under fire from lawyers and politicians due to alleged violations of the use of personal data.
According to Umut Zorer, a specialist in computer science and personal data protection law, the app violates Turkish law because the processing of sensitive personal data is illegal unless clear consent is given or it is specially permitted under law. Zorer also told BBC Turkish that the Interior Ministry has no authority under Turkish law to handle such sensitive data.
Gürsel Tekin, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), criticised the minister for potentially exposing the data of all Turkish citizens’ data to the United States, because the app only works on Apple phones. He argues that this is a crime.
Veysel Ok, co-director of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), also questioned the legality of obtaining and storing people’s personal data without their consent. He queried how the app had been installed on a phone that is not secure, and how many other people have the app.
Turkey’s police union has stated that it is not proper that the application, which is meant as a surveillance tool for intelligence agencies and the Counter-Terrorism Branch, had been installed on a phone by a member of the ruling party and is being shared with the public.
