Legislate on Contact-Trace Data Usage in Crime Probes, Singapore

Singapore’s government aims to establish urgent legislation in order to formalize the use of contact-tracing virus data in serious crime investigations.

Legislation to restrict the use of data to prosecute seven types of serious crimes will be implemented at the next parliamentary sitting in February, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office said in a statement on Friday. Murder, terrorism, abduction and serious sexual offences will be included, it added.

The move comes amid concerns about privacy problems in the contact-tracing program of the city-state designed to help curb the spread of the coronavirus SARS Covid-19.

“The Smart Nation and Digital Government Office stated in the statement, “We accept our mistake in not mentioning that TraceTogether data, A lawmaker for the opposition Workers’ Party, Gerald Giam, posted on Facebook this week that it is “ill-advised” that the government has not ruled out the use of information from TraceTogether for criminal investigations. excluded from the Criminal Procedure Code.

A lawmaker for the opposition Workers’ Party, Gerald Giam, posted on Facebook recently this week that it is “ill-advised” that the government has not ruled out the use of information from TraceTogether for criminal investigations.

“The Smart Nation and Digital Government Office stated in the statement, “It is not in the public interest to totally refuse the police access to such data when the protection of the public or the proper conduct of justice is at stake.”

78 percent of Singapore’s population uses TraceTogether. The software does not collect data about individual GPS sites, Wi-Fi, or mobile networks being used, according to its website. “But a clause on data that is only used to contact trace individuals exposed to coronavirus was removed and replaced with a statement noting that police “can collect any data for criminal investigations, including TraceTogether data.