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Last I read the UK intends to centrally retain proximity-contact data for 20 years. Rather than deleting when it is decided it's no longer needed to deal with the pandemic.

The UK has also refused to legally commit to not sharing the data with other government departments such as the Home Office (immigration and policing) and DWP (benefits).

So much for data protection and obtaining data for a designated purpose. Whatever happened to the GDPR.

I know enough people that will be inappropriately harmed by this sort of data, whether it is used against them directly or not (it's still a miserable life living in constant fear of "doing something wrong", which now includes "being somewhere you shouldn't be" or "being near someone you shouldn't be"), that I'm firmly against this sort of surveillance state expansion, and firmly in favour of data protection.

As it stands currently I will not install the UK app, and I advise all my friends to steer well clear of it as well.

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(If they meaningfully improve data protection then I'll change my mind and be all in. E.g. the Google-Apple approach and zero-knowledge methods are enough for me. If epidemiologists and public health would find data useful, let's use some differential privacy. I'm not against data collection done properly in such a way that actually protects people.)




> Last I read the UK intends to centrally retain proximity-contact data for 20 years. Rather than deleting when it is decided it's no longer needed to deal with the pandemic. The UK has also refused to legally commit to not sharing the data with other government departments such as the Home Office (immigration and policing) and DWP (benefits).

that's scary..

any chance you can share the references for these?



"Public Health England will keep personal data of people with coronavirus for 20 years"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/28/nhs-will-keep-...

"NHS under fire for plans to store track and trace data for 20 years"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/05/28/nhs-fire-p...

"Demand NHSX spell out Covid-19 app privacy risks"

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/protecting-digital...

"Hostile environment may stop migrants from using NHSX tracker app"

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/hostile-environment-may...

"NHS test and trace privacy doc throws doubt on app’s “anonymity” claims"

https://tech.newstatesman.com/coronavirus/nhs-test-and-trace...

"The privacy risks of the NHSX tracing app are both less and more serious than you think"

https://tech.newstatesman.com/security/nhsx-contact-tracing-...

"Immigration Bill brings surveillance to EU migrants" (This is about exemptions to data protection law for immigration purposes, which affects citizens and non-citizens alike.)

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/immigration-bill-brings...

"Scotland’s different path on contact tracing is to be welcomed, but questions remain"

https://scotland.openrightsgroup.org/blog/scotlands-differen...


I suspect a certain government advisor, notorious for driving across country during a lockdown as a bizarre form of eye test, wants to siphon private information to data mining companies owned by his friends in order to manipulate future elections. And the GDPR, as far as I am aware, only applies if you are in, or doing business with, the EU, which the UK is no longer part of thanks to the aforementioned government advisor.


The GDPR still applies and will continue to by default, as far as I know. After the transition period the UK would have the choice to repeal or change it but I'm not aware of any push to do so.


Given the transition period is to end in January 2021, very likely with "no deal" given the current chatter coming out of London and Brussels, the GDPR will only be in force for another few months. I very much doubt the "Vote Leave" gang will want to replace it with a UK equivalent with the same teeth.




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