Tracing data can be used for probes
Singapore’s Covid-19 contact-tracing program is facing renewed concerns over privacy after a government minister told lawmakers that data collected through the program could be used for criminal investigations, despite earlier assurances to the contrary.
The TraceTogether program, which requires Singaporeans to download an app or carry a Bluetooth-enabled token, was introduced last March. Although participation is technically voluntary, officials have threatened social penalties for those who do not sign up. So far, more than 4.2 million people, or 78 per cent of residents, have joined the program.
The government had initially pledged that none of the data collected would be accessed unless an individual was found to have contracted Covid-19 and required contact tracing.
But in a session of Parliament on Monday, Minister of State for Home
Affairs Desmond Tan said the data could also be used in criminal probes.
‘‘Singapore Police Force is empowered under the criminal procedure code to obtain any data, and that includes the TraceTogether data for criminal investigations,’’ Tan said. ‘‘The government is the custodian of the (TraceTogether) data admitted by the individuals, and stringent measures are put in place to safeguard this personal data.’’
The TraceTogether website was updated later Monday to reflect the addition of criminal investigations to the potential uses of the program’s data.
The revelation comes after months of public reassurances that the app and token would not be intrusive and pleas for trust in adopting the program.
Governments worldwide are grappling with effective contact tracing, including the United States, where cooperation with the public has been undermined by misinformation and mistrust, and China, where contact tracing is suspected of enhancing the authoritarian government’s mass-surveillance tools.
Singapore, an island nation of 5.8 million, has whittled the number of active Covid-19 cases to under 200 as of Monday after hundreds of people were being infected daily in cramped worker dormitories earlier in the pandemic. There have been a total of 29 deaths from the disease in the country.
Singaporeans were initially skittish about TraceTogether, which uses Bluetooth to track users rather than GPS. An online petition calling for an end to the program over privacy concerns has attracted nearly 55,000 signatures.
Though voluntary, adoption of TraceTogether surged in recent months after the government announced that it would not loosen social restrictions until 70 per cent of residents had downloaded the app or obtained a token.
The government also said the app or token would be required to enter public venues later this year. –