The Australian goverment may soon be launching an app which will actively track and use data from a persons phones to inform health authorities to who is in close contact with those that have tested positive for COVID-19.
However, this proposal has been met with some skepticism regarding the Government’s collection of personal information.
Community privacy concerns have forced the Federal Government to insist a coronavirus tracing app will neither track people’s locations nor be available for law enforcement agencies to access.
In an interview, Government Services Minister Stuart Robert said he planned to release the source code and a privacy impact assessment of the app, in a bid to shore up public confidence around the new digital tracing tool.
He has also said that the COVID trace app is “entirely voluntary”, and will not be a surveillance device as it is purely designed to speed up coronavirus testing.
Robert’s also said when the pandemic was over that the app could be deleted and none of the data would not be retained.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that a movement-tracking app, which would enable the government to detect potential new outbreaks, would be completely voluntary not mandatory for the public to download. However, despite this, the app immediately recieved backlash and was been criticised for being an invasion of privacy.
“We will be seeking the cooperation and support of Australians to download the app to help our health workers, to protect our community and help get our economy going again,” Morrison said on his Twitter account.
The app has been delayed after privacy law monitors including the Human Rights Law Centre told the health minister, Greg Hunt, that they were worried about the types of data to be collected by the app.
>Juthy Saha
