Europe's privacy watchdog has called on EU member states to create a unique mobile app that can be used to help control the spread of the coronavirus without violating privacy rights. Several European governments have already launched apps, based on anonymous location data provided by mobile operators, but the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is concerned that this piecemeal approach could be less effective both in enforcement and in its guarantees. The capacities and usage of these apps are expected to increase in the coming weeks and months as governments seek to contain the epidemic and ease lockdown restrictions.
EU Data Tracking
However, any extension to the scale of such monitoring will raise security and confidentiality concerns, and some worry that governments cannot use the data to enable state surveillance. The EPDS has previously stated that the use of anonymous data is legal, but wants a pan-European approach to ensure all privacy protections are in place. "The EDPS is aware that several EU Member States have developed or are in the process of developing mobile applications that use different approaches to protect public health, which involves processing personal data in different ways," said the head of the SEPD, Wojciech Wiewiorowski, in a letter. to EU governments. "The use of temporary transmission identifiers and Bluetooth technology for contact tracing appears to be a useful way to effectively ensure the confidentiality and protection of personal data. "In view of these differences, the European Data Protection Supervisor calls for a pan-European model " Mobile application Covid-19 ", coordinated at the EU level. Ideally, coordination with the World Health Organization should also take place, to ensure data protection by design globally from the start." Last month, several major European telecommunications groups agreed to share mobile location data with These include Vodafone in the UK, which has networks across the continent, as well as A1 Telekom Austria, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor and Telia.Meanwhile, UK privacy regulators have said that using anonymous cell phone location data to help slow the spread of Covid-19 is legal.