The post
BREAKING: UK Gov’t Asks Cell Phone Company to Hand Over Location
Data to Ensure Quarantines appeared first on National File. Visit
NationalFile.com for more hard-hitting investigative
journalism.
The UK government reportedly has asked mobile phone company O2 to
hand over anonymous location data to see if people are following
social distancing measures.
According to a now-deleted tweet by Sky News, the government
asked O2 to “hand over anonymous mobile phone location data,”
to check if people en masse were following the guidelines regarding
social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak.
The current government guidelines suggest that people should
avoid mass gatherings, pubs, and restaurants. Prime Minister Boris
Johnson also announced yesterday that British schools would close
on Friday afternoon and remain closed indefinitely during the
coronavirus outbreak.
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Many people were astounded that the government would request the
data, with one Twitter user calling it a “breach of privacy and
human rights,” and another comparing the decision to the
totalitarian government depicted in George Orwell’s book
“1984,” set in a dystopian future United Kingdom.
Isn’t that a breach of privacy and human
rights?— Steve Collins (@stevecollins678)
March 19, 2020
— Andy (@18Andrew72)
March 19, 2020
One user argued that the decision was totally fine as long as
the location data from O2 remained anonymous, as it could “feed
into the scientific impact analysis and know if the recommendations
are being truly listened to and followed.”
The key word is “anonymous” – it means
govt can use this data to feed into the scientific impact analysis
and know if the recommendations are being truly listened to and
followed, or if further measures will be needed to save lives. Calm
the fk down selfish people complaining.— Sentinel Libertas
(@Sentinelibertas)
March 19, 2020
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It follows a decision by the UK’s major mobile networks (EE,
O2 and Three) to ensure that users could
visit the NHS website without incurring any data costs, in
order to stay informed about the coronavirus outbreak.
Currently, 143 people have died in the UK from coronavirus, and
there have been 3,269
confirmed cases.
Neither O2 nor the UK government have commented on the story at
the time of writing. This is a breaking story, and will be updated
as more information becomes available.
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UPDATE: In an email to National File, O2 said
that there is nothing in place yet with the government, only
“discussions at early stages,” and that despite having the
capability to provide modelling support, it would only ever relate
to mass movements of people, and not individuals. They claim that
this operates completely under GDPR and “existing privacy
legislation.”
A spokesperson said that O2 are “fully engaged in helping in
the fight against COVID-19”:
Besides zero rating access to NHS and other support websites, we
were asked along with other mobile operators to support those who
are working tirelessly to map and control the spread of coronavirus
in the UK. Using our mobile technology, we have the potential to
build models that help to predict broadly how the virus might move.
This would in no way be able to identify or map individuals, and
operates within strict privacy guidelines.
The post
BREAKING: UK Gov’t Asks Cell Phone Company to Hand Over Location
Data to Ensure Quarantines appeared first on National File. Visit
NationalFile.com for more hard-hitting investigative
journalism.
