TraceTogether was adopted by about 78% of the city-state’s population, with almost 5.7 million inhabitants.
Photographer: Catherine Lai / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Catherine Lai / AFP / Getty Images
The Singapore police force could use the data obtained through its widely adopted contact tracking program for criminal investigations, a senior official said on Monday.
Responding to a question about the city-state’s TraceTogether program in parliament, Desmond Tan, Minister of State at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said the police force is “empowered under the Code of Criminal Procedure to obtain any data, including TraceTogether data, for criminal investigations. “
“The government is the custodian of TT data transmitted by individuals and there are strict measures to protect this personal data,” Tan said. “Examples of such measures include allowing authorized officers to access data, using such data only for authorized purposes and storing data on a secure data platform.”
With one of the highest takeover rates in the world, TraceTogether has been adopted by about 78 percent of the city-state’s population, with nearly 5.7 million residents, Education Minister Lawrence Wong said in a parliamentary speech Monday. The use of TraceTogether either through its mobile application or through a portable symbol will be required for entry into public places in early 2021, the Ministry of Health declared in December.
Tan’s remarks follow privacy concerns raised by citizens last year in connection with the TraceTogether contact tracking program website, the program does not collect data about individual GPS locations, Wifi or mobile networks used. It is also stated that the data may be “used only to track the contacts of persons who may be exposed to Covid-19”.
According to Tan, public officers who recklessly or knowingly disclose data without authorization or misuse the data may be liable to a fine. up to $ 5,000, about $ 3,800 or jail up to two years, or both.