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ARTICLE · 03 MAY 2020

The COVIDSafe app T&Cs - and Can the cops use it to bust your illegal dinner party?

Marque Lawyers
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A determination provides that no person can collect, use or disclose data collected via COVIDSafe for any other purpose.

AustraliaPrivacy
Justin Cudmore
Justin Cudmore
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The Commonwealth government's next hope in ending COVID-19 dropped into the app stores at 6pm yesterday and within a few hours had been downloaded over a million times.

Of those million people, about 7 have probably read the terms and conditions and privacy policy. But don't worry, we did and here is what you need to know:

  • The app works by constantly searching (via Bluetooth) for anyone near you who also has the app. If you remain within about 1.5 metres of a person for 15 minutes or more a 'contact' is logged. Every contact is then recorded and stored on your phone (and the other peoples' phones).
  • If you contract COVID-19 you will be asked if you consent to upload the contact data on your phone to a database. The relevant state or territory health department will then use the data to contact all the users you have had contact with (while not naming you to those people).

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