Government looks at tracking phones

THE Australian Government is considering using smartphone data to track public movements during the coronavirus pandemic, with the Department of Home Affairs saying it would “explore all options” to reduce the spread of the virus.

Anonymised information from smartphones is currently being used to identify crowd hot spots in countries including the US and UK, and to determine whether social distancing rules are being followed.

And Australian political experts said the move could be accepted by the public if created with strict guidelines and a limited time frame, as “extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures”.

Twenty-two countries are now using smartphone data to track the movements of citizens during the coronavirus outbreak, according to new research from Top10VPN, with the technology most popular in European and Asian nations.

The UK government last week received legal clearance from its privacy watchdog to use smartphone location information to create maps of citizens’ movements and identify problem areas within 12 to 24 hours.

Australia’s three major telcos told News Corp they had not received official requests for phone location data yet, but a Home Affairs spokesperson said the government had not ruled out using a similar scheme to identify high-risk zones.

“The Australian Government is working closely with the states and territories and continues to explore all options to support the COVID-19 response,” the spokesperson said.

“State and territories are currently responsible for managing self-isolation compliance within their jurisdiction.”

Former Howard government adviser Terry Barnes said he expected the use of anonymised smartphone data in Australia would “be acceptable to the public” if it was used to save lives during this pandemic.

“These are extraordinary times and extraordinary measures need to be taken,” he said.

TRANSFER stations across the Douglas Shire will close to residents from Saturday until further notice.

People who do not receive a waste collection service at their property will be able to dispose of bagged food/household waste only at Killaloe, Cow Bay and Daintree stations.

Newell Beach Transfer Station will close until further notice. The council’s regular kerbside wheelie bin service will continue as per usual.

For more details, visit https:// douglas.qld.gov.au.