Saturday, January 09, 2021

New law on the use of the Trace Together data

The government is presenting a new law for Parliament to stop the police from getting access to the Trace Together data except for "serious crimes".

The intention of this new law is to give assurance to the public that the Trace Together data will be kept private and will only be used for contact tracing to prevent the spread of the virus.
I find it ridiculous to take so much trouble over a small issue.
This is the alternative approach.
The Police can make a statement that they will not be asking for the Trace Together data in the normal course of investigation. The data is hardly to be of any use anyway.
The Police already had the power to confiscate a person's mobile phone, personal computer and physical files in the course of their investigation. The access to the Trace Together data is very low in priority and is unlikely to be useful or needed.
There are many other updates that are needed to our other laws. Some of these laws, including littering and jay walking, are outdated and are not being enforced. It is better for these laws to be updated, as they affect the daily lives of the population. We need certainty in the laws.
The use of the Trace Together data can be explained by an administrative instruction from the Police. I do not envisage any situation where the Police will abuse their existing power to require the access to the Trace Together data.

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