In the second reading of the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Amendment) Bill in Parliament today, Vivian Balakrishnan says that he take full responsibility for the “consternation” and “anxiety” over the revelation that the TraceTogether data can be used for police investigations.
Dr Balakrishnan also highlighted that the TraceTogether is “fundamentally privacy-protecting by design”.
“TraceTogether only collects proximity data, which is necessary to identify close contacts. TraceTogether does not collect GPS location nor movement data. Furthermore, the app and the token only keep a temporary record, in an encrypted form, locally on the device.
The data is automatically purged after 25 days. The Government also intends to deactivate TraceTogether, along with other digital contact tracing programmes, once the pandemic is over.”
He also said that it would not be right to not use the data if it comes to a serious offence where a person’s life or safety is in jeopardy.
The data can only be used if the offences fall under the following categories:
The government cannot use the date for any purposes other than the ones mentioned above.