Read on Twitter
Every country seeking to use digital contact tracing needs to give their population assurances that this won't happen in their jurisdiction. Aus-style legislative protections could be used here in NZ, prohibiting alt use of contact tracing data in a public health response order. https://twitter.com/zackwhittaker/status/1346164314101657606
To be clear to anyone reading this in NZ the Singaporean system is quite different to what we are using. One of the warning signs was when it became apparent that their QR code system was entirely centralised with all logs kept on a central govt server. We are at lower risk here.
And the Australian protections mean that even intelligence agencies can't use the data, so when they accidentally did it they had to delete the data and apologise: https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/24/australia-spy-agencies-covid-19-app-data
Trust in government is a critical factor in encouraging uptake of digital contact tracing, so it's frustrating to see a govt do/say something like this which may undermine trust generally even in other jurisdictions. Parts of their own govt will be frustrated too.
For those interested, I've written a letter to Chris Hipkins and Ashley Bloomfield highlighting this concern and recommending that we adopt legislative protections similar to what Australia introduced for COVIDSafe: https://www.mcdp.nz/2021/01/data-use-protections-for-nz-covid-tracer.html
Just because this is picking up a bit of interest:
Should you still continue to use NZ COVID Tracer?
Yes - I'm just asking for more concrete, more certain protections for all users. Assurances have already been given by MOH, but having it in legislation would be better.
Should you still continue to use NZ COVID Tracer?
Yes - I'm just asking for more concrete, more certain protections for all users. Assurances have already been given by MOH, but having it in legislation would be better.
