27 September 2023

OAIC keeps tabs on COVIDSafe privacy

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The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is auditing the handling of personal and private information by COVIDSafe.

Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner, Angelene Falk said COVIDSafe was the app that had been made available by the Australian Government to help facilitate contact tracing.

Ms Falk said the OAIC audit will look for compliance with the strict protections the Government put in place, with its first report due by the end of this year.

She said her report would be the first in a series of five assessments by the OAIC examining compliance and risk throughout the information lifecycle of the COVIDSafe data.

“The privacy protections within the system were enshrined in law to give Australians confidence that their personal information will be safeguarded when they download and use the app,” Ms Falk said.

“The changes to the Privacy Act 1988 also provided additional oversight powers for my office, including over State and Territory health authorities accessing COVIDSafe data.”

She said the assessment would examine the handling of personal information as it travels through the COVIDSafe app system, from notification, collection and storage, to access and deletion, including when the National COVIDSafe Data Store was deleted at the end of the pandemic.

“The COVIDSafe provisions prohibit certain conduct in relation to the app, limit the purpose for which data may be collected, used or disclosed, require data to be stored in and not disclosed outside Australia, and set penalties for breaches of the law,” Ms Falk said.

She said her report would be published on the OAIC’s website following the completion of each COVIDSafe assessment.

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