NORWEGIAN DATA PROTECTION AUTHORITY TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS THE COVID-19 TRACKING APP

30.06.2020

The European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) announced that the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (“NDPA”) had notified the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (“NIPH”) about the suspension of the Smittestopp mobile application which is an app that process personal data to trace users’ connection with people infected with Covid-19.

The NDPA explained that the apps could be useful to fight this pandemic but Smittestopp app is highly invasive in terms of data protection. Firstly, Smittestopp does not provide an option to its users about accepting the use of their personal data for contact tracing purposes without also agreeing to the data being used for analysis and research.

The NDPA also pointed out that several other European countries have developed tracing apps that only using Bluetooth technology and do not collect GPS location data. However, the NIPH could not explain why the app used GPS location data instead of Bluetooth technology.

Lastly, the NDPA has concerns about the anonymizing and aggregating the collected data for analysis since no solution has been implemented yet. Considering these situations, the NDPA stated that the NIPH should review the app in connection with the lack of choice of the users, the less invasive methods to track users, and the use of the collected data properly.  

After the notification from the NDPA, the NIPH has suspended all collection and storage of personal data. Two organizations will come together to review and update the app to make it both convenient to fight the Covid-19 pandemic and data protection regulations. 

You can find the text of the EDPB’s statement  here.

Should you have any queries and/or remarks, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Kind regards,

Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr