UK gov't contact-tracing app violates data-protection rules, group says

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Privacy campaigners accuse the UK authorities of violating data protection laws through the creation of the government'due south coronavirus Test and Trace app, which is yet to be released publicly.

The Open Rights Grouping (ORG), a complimentary-speech campaigning organization, confirmed that it would be making a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over the national rollout of the app in the wake of the Covid-xix pandemic.

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The organization has also written a letter to Great britain health secretarial assistant Matt Hancock, to the CEO of NHSX (the bureau meant to bring the National Health Service up to speed with the latest technology), Matt Gould, and to the chief executive of Public Health England (PHE), Duncan Selbie, to ask for data on the data safeguards of the app.

In its complaint, ORG accuses the NHS and PHE of failing to complete a Data Protection Impact Cess, which required past law through the General Data Protection Regulation.

ORG said this was necessary "given the system is experimental and the sensitive nature and calibration of the data being processed", adding that both health organizations are in alienation of GDPR every bit they confirmed that a data protection impact assessment wasn't conducted.

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'Public health objectives are being undermined'

Campaigners at ORG also called the app's 20-year data-retentivity menstruum excessive while questioning its commercial and enquiry purposes. They too claim to have plant unspecified security issues that put people at risk and said the app'due south privacy notice is flawed.

Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group, called on the ICO to act and enforce the law, accusing the Government of moving as well fast with the roll out.

He said: "If they carry on in this manner, public conviction volition be undermined, and people volition reject to engage with the Track and Trace program. Public wellness objectives are being undermined by failures to get privacy and data protection basics in place."

The complaint will be filed by Ravi Naik, Legal Director of the information rights bureau AWO. He also criticized the app for its approach to data protection, saying: "Rushing out Test and Trace without post-obit basic legal requirements is troubling. These legal obligations are non but a compliance point.

"They are designed to ensure that risks are identified and mitigated. Non conducting these assessments has caused our client'southward concern that those risks accept not been properly thought through."

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Nicholas Fearn is a freelance applied science announcer and copywriter from the Welsh valleys. His work has appeared in publications such every bit the FT, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph, The Next Web, T3, Android Central, Computer Weekly, and many others. He also happens to be a diehard Mariah Carey fan!

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/uk-contact-tracing-app-violates-data-protection-rules-group-says

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UK gov't contact-tracing app violates data-protection rules, group says