“Tracking app” wil be released at the end of June
Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group, commenting on the Government’s announcement that the “tracking app” wil be released at the end of June, said:
“The App needs safeguards in law to prevent it being abused before it is released. People need to be able to fully delete their data and know it will never be handed to the Home Office or elsewhere.
“It is very wrong for the Government to push ahead without ensuring the App doesn’t become compulsory thanks to employers or managers insisting people use the App.
“Northern Ireland is also opting to use the ‘decentralised’ Google-Apple system. We are owed an explanation as to why privacy friendly technologies can work in some parts of the UK, but not others.
“Most of the rest of Europe has opted for the privacy-friendly approach.”
Last week, ORG and other organisations wrote to the Government about concerns that marginalised groups would be particulary affected by a ‘centralised’ version of the app wiithout legal guarantees. [2]
Earlier this week, ORG compained to the ICO about the wider Tracking and Tracing programme’s data protection deficiencies, incuding significant security problems and its failure to properly assess its data protection risks. [3]
Contact
Jim Killock press@openrightsgroup.org
Notes
[1] Coronavirus: NHS contact-tracing app in place by end of month, says minister https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52931232
[2] https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/nhsx-app-must-gain-the-trust-of-marginalised-groups/