Australia bars police from accessing contact tracing app metadata

Police will be barred from accessing metadata collected by Australia's proposed coronavirus contact tracing app, which will be able to identify when users have been 1.5 metres of each other for more than 15 minutes, Australia's government services minister, Stuart Robert, and prime minister, Scott Morrison, have promised. Only state health investigators will access the data, even though experts say that the 2018 telecommunications laws potentially allow law enforcement access. Critics are concerned that the centralised database that will store the data collected by the app will be a target for criminals, may never be deleted, and is likely to be used for other purposes once in place.

Source: https://amp.smh.com.au/politics/federal/attorney-general-to-ban-police-from-accessing-coronavirus-app-metadata-20200422-p54m6e.html

Writer: Max Koslowski
Publication: The Sydney Morning Herald