DELETION.info is an unofficial app to facilitate INTERPOL research.

The author

This app is developed by me, Alex Tinsley. I am a barrister specialising in INTERPOL, human rights, and transnational repression. I also work with civil society actors such as Fair Trials; the European Criminal Bar Association; and Lawyers Against Transnational Repression. I am independent and have developed this app on a personal basis.

About the app

Individuals who are the subject of data processing via INTERPOL’s channels (such as red notices, stolen and lost travel document database entries etc.) can make complaints to the Commission for the Control of Files (CCF) to seek deletion of the notice or other data.

Since 2017, the CCF has released 65 selected anonymised extracts of its decisions, to give stakeholders insight into how it applies INTERPOL’s rules. However, it has released them in a clunky downloadable PDF format which makes research cumbersome.

DELETION.info addresses that issue. The app contains an unofficial and imperfect html text rendering of the content of each of the CCF’s published decisions. This content can then be word-searched and filtered (using the same tags that the CCF has used to classify its decisions), all within the same window. Once a relevant decision has been identified, the original PDF decision can then be downloaded from INTERPOL’s site.

The app is called DELETION because that is (for now) the main tool by which the CCF exercises its role: by ordering the deletion of personal data which is not processed in accordance with the rules. To understand what leads the CCF to order deletion in one case, but not in another, one needs to find its ’case-law’. The app makes that easier.

Please note, only those PDFs downloadable from INTERPOL’s website are authentic. The content on DELETION.info is unofficial; may not be up to date; and is intended as a time-saving device only. Always check INTERPOL’s website for the original material.

Part of a dialogue with INTERPOL

In recent years, sector stakeholders have had an important and necessary dialogue with INTERPOL, in pursuit of more transparency and better safeguards to improve the system. This app has been developed as further contribution to that dialogue, in two ways.

First, the app promotes debate. Currently, the practicalities are such that CCF "case-law" is not well-known beyond the specialised legal community. By enabling easier research of this material, the app will enable more people to form an informed view on CCF practice and, thereby, facilitate further public debate of CCF decision-making.

Secondly, the app offers a practical illustration for INTERPOL / the CCF. INTERPOL has a budget of many millions and should, in my view, have developed something better than downloadable PDFs by now. DELETION.info offers a glimpse of a better system. It is hoped this assists INTERPOL in (one hopes) developing something more advanced.

We are aware of some minor formatting bugs in this newly developed app. These are being ironed out; but feel free to point out any issues you spot (see contact page)

For questions or corrections, please contact the developer. DELETION.info is provided solely as a research tool and does not replace official sources. Always refer to INTERPOL’s website for authoritative information.