The question of authorities accessing and using data from the TraceTogether programme for purposes other than contact tracing has been hotly debated these past few days following the revelation by Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan in Parliament on Monday (4 January) that the police can obtain that data for criminal investigations.
He had explained that the police is empowered under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) to get hold of any data, and that includes the data gathered from TraceTogether.
This triggered a slew of responses from netizens who highlighted earlier assurances given by various government officials that the data would only be used for contact tracing purposes.
It also prompted various ministers—from Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian Balakrishnan to Education Minister and co-chair of the COVID-19 Multi-Ministry Task Force Lawrence Wong—to clarify their earlier statements, saying that this is not what actually meant.
Let’s take a look at the reports from back in June 2020 when the government was trying to encourage more people to start using the TraceTogether tokens, and what they said about privacy concerns.
A report by Straits Times on the press conference of 8 June 2020 noted that Dr Balakrishnan had said that the then-soon-to-be-issued TraceTogether tokens will not track people’s locations or movements.
Here is an excerpt of ST’s report:
He [Dr Balakrishnan] was addressing privacy concerns which have surfaced since he announced the device in Parliament last Friday.
“It is not an electronic tag… There is no GPS (global positioning system) chip on the device. There isn’t even any Internet or mobile telephony connectivity… The device cannot track the location (or) movement of any of us.”
On the same day, a report by Channel NewsAsia also quoted the same minister addressing privacy concerns at the same media briefing. Here is an excerpt of the report:
Addressing privacy concerns that have surfaced, Dr Balakrishnan said: “So here’s where I need to emphasise, and repeatedly emphasise, it is not a tracking device. It is not an electronic tag as some Internet commentaries have fretted about. In particular, and here to be technical, there is no GPS chip on the device. There isn’t even any Internet or mobile telephone connectivity.”
Without a GPS chip, the device cannot track an individual’s location and movements. Without Internet connectivity, there is “no possibility” of data being uploaded “without the participation and consent of the user”, said the minister.
Later in the report, CNA wrote:
The data will only be used by the Ministry of Health (MOH) if an individual is diagnosed with COVID-19, and “only a very limited restricted team of contact tracers” will have access to the data to reconstruct an activity map to identify the full range of interactions that the patient might have had.
“It’s worth emphasising that there isn’t one big, giant centralised database. In fact, the data is decentralised and encrypted on phones and on devices, and only uploaded, if it is positive,” said Dr Balakrishnan, who is also Foreign Affairs Minister.
“Again I want to emphasise, there is no electronic tagging. There is no geolocation tracking. This is only purely focused on Bluetooth proximity data, and only used for contact tracing.”
In yet another report, this time by Mothership.sg, on the same press conference, much of the same was reported. Here is an excerpt of the Mothership report:
Only if an individual is diagnosed with Covid-19, will the data be accessed by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Even then, “only a very limited restricted team of contact tracers” will have access to the data to reconstruct an activity map to identify the full range of interactions that the patient might have had, he [Dr Balakrishnan] added.
“It’s worth emphasising that there isn’t one big, giant centralised database. In fact, the data is decentralised and encrypted on phones and on devices, and only uploaded, if it is positive,” Vivian also said.
“Again I want to emphasise, there is no electronic tagging. There is no geolocation tracking. This is only purely focused on Bluetooth proximity data, and only used for contact tracing.”
A video of the press conference itself clearly highlights what both Dr Balakrishnan as well as Mr Wong said at the time:
In the video, Mr Wong clearly states: “There is no intention to use a TraceTogether app, or TraceTogether token, as a means of picking up breaches of existing rules. There is no intention at all. So the app and the device, plus SafeEntry combined, are meant to provide us with information in a timely manner so that we can do speedy, fast, and effective contact tracing. It is not meant as a way to detect offences and breaches of rules.”
Adding to Mr Wong’s clarification, Mr Balakrishnan said: “TraceTogether app, TraceTogether running on a device, and the data generated is purely for contact tracing. Period.”