Police Access to COVID Check-In Data Is An Affront to Our Privacy. We Need Stronger and More Consistent Rules in Place

Abstract

There are multiple COVID surveillance tools currently in use in Australia, including proximity tracking, attendance tracking (via QR codes), COVID status certificates, and home quarantine using geo-location combined with facial recognition.'Australian privacy authorities have released a set of five national COVID-19 privacy principles as a guide to “best practice” for governments and businesses handling personal COVID surveillance data.But we believe these principles are vague and fail to address a range of issues, including whether or not police can access our data. We propose more detailed and consistent laws to be enacted throughout Australia, covering all COVID surveillance. We suggest a set of 10 principles.COVID-19 has necessitated the most pervasive surveillance most of us have ever experienced. But such surveillance is really only justifiable as an emergency measure. It must not become a permanent part of state surveillance.