Launched on June 2, the French mobile tracing app for COVID-19, “StopCovid,” has been voluntarily downloaded by 1.9 million users within three weeks. On June 3, the French Data Protection Authority (the CNIL) published its second opinion on StopCovid, relating to the implementation of the app and the related Executive Decree No. 2020-650 and to the Government’s data protection impact assessment. Following its first opinion of April 24, on the principle of the use of a…
On May 1, 2020, the Province of Alberta launched ABTraceTogether, an Android and iOS compatible contact tracing app users voluntarily download for tracing and notifying users who may have been exposed to COVID-19. ABTraceTogether is used by Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services (AHS) to supplement manual contact tracing completed by public health officials. ABTraceTogether was announced just prior to the issuance in May 2020 of joint guidance by the federal and provincial privacy commissioners…
Contact tracing apps have become a new weapon in our arsenal as we battle COVID-19. But not everyone sees eye-to-eye on these apps and different jurisdictions are taking divergent approaches. What are contact tracing apps? Contact tracing apps are applications which keep track of an individual smartphone user’s real-life interactions with, or proximity to, other smartphone users (the individual’s contacts). Their primary aim is to ensure that – if the individual is suspected or confirmed…
Joanna de Fonseka, a senior associate in Baker McKenzie’s London office, joins host Brian Hengesbaugh to discuss the use of contact tracing apps in the United Kingdom. Download and listen to learn: Takeaways from the recent guidance from the ICO on contact tracing appsKey privacy considerations as the use of contact tracing apps becomes a reality in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemicDevelopments at the EU level regarding contact tracing apps and mobility data https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jtEkAQeYjZKdZkKp0ewGX…
In the weeks and months ahead, contact tracing technologies will play a critical role in the societal fight against COVID-19, and the quest to restore order. A number of recent developments both in the European Union and the United Kingdom offer insight on the regulatory expectations in the widespread use of location data for this new health policy purpose. In this post, we summarise key points from the following UK and EU regulatory guidance, which…