Switzerland: Swisscom to inform federal authorities of gatherings

According to information collected by Le Temps, telco Swisscom will use SIM card geolocation data to communicate to federal authorities when more than 20 phones are detected in an 100 square meters area. Gathering of more than 5 people are forbidden in Switzerland since March 21.

Data collected by the telco should theoretically only come from public areas and not private building. This data will be anonymised and aggregate before being passed to the health authorities (Office fédéral de la santé publique, OFSP) in the following 24 hours. According to Swisscom, this data sharing is not meant to track or identify individuals but rather to monitor gatherings. The telco also declared that the data cannot be used for other purposes or merged with other datasets including in a legal context.

Source: https://www.letemps.ch/economie/swisscom-aidera-confederation-detecter-attroupements-via-telephones

Writer: Anouch Seydtaghia
Publication: Le Temps