New Zealand Police investigators uploaded evidence to unsecured AI services

New Zealand Police investigators took evidence home and uploaded it to unsecured external AI services on personal devices, breaching police policy, according to RNZ. Privacy law expert Kathryn Dalziel said the practice could expose confidential information, identify witnesses or compromise criminal cases.

One investigator used Google Translate to process 350,000 lines of intercepted Chinese language audio because internal systems did not support the required language. Documents also indicated that officers uploaded sensitive files to unsecured cloud services.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner said uploading personal information to services such as Google Translate may count as disclosure under the Privacy Act. Agencies must assess whether an unauthorized disclosure could cause serious harm and requires notification to the office.