Calls for police to be barred from snooping on QR code check-in data

There are concerns people may stop checking in after police searched QR code data that many thought only health authorities could access.

There are growing calls for police to be banned from snooping on Australians’ QR code check-in data that most people are now using to aid in Covid-19 contact tracing.

On multiple occasions police have applied for, and been granted, access to check-in data that most people assumed was only being shared with health authorities.

The privacy watchdog has said continued searching into individuals’ check-in data by police may “undermine an effective and efficient contact-tracing system”.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that police forces in Western Australia and Queensland had managed to scrutinise check-in data.

Victoria Police tried on three occasions but were denied access.

Customers check in at a supermarket in Doncaster, Melbourne. Picture: Daniel Pockett/NCA NewsWire

Police access QR code check-in data numerous times

When the Western Australia SafeWA contact tracing app was made compulsory in December last year, Premier Mark McGowan promised personal data would only be used by health authorities.

But Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said the terms and condition allowed police to delve into the data if it was far a “lawful reason” and it users should read the fine print.

“If any person is murdered … the police have a duty to collect the best possible evidence and put that before the court,” he said in June after WA Police used QR code information during an investigation into a murdered bikie.

“Don’t expect me to do my job half baked. I expect my officers to do everything possible to bring a murderer to justice and to bring a person who stabs another to justice. The police have only got information twice out of 240 million transactions, and they are exceptional circumstances, and it is lawful.”

In June, Queensland Police also got its hands on QR code check-in data after it applied for a search warrant as part of a case looking into the theft of a police firearm and taser in the Gladstone region.

“The data was accessed in relation to a group of people reported to be acting suspiciously in the area around the time of this incident,” Queensland Police said at the time.

Queensland Police said it would in future only apply for a search warrant to access QR code data in “exceptional circumstances”.

NSW does not allow check in data from the ServiceNSW app to be accessed by police. Picture: NCA NewsWire

‘People could stop using app’

But Queensland Privacy Commissioner Phillip Green told the ABC at the time that many people would have concerns given “a lot of the publicity around the apps has been that it will only be used for contact tracing”.

Both the Queensland and Western Australian governments have looked into tightening up the use of app data.

The governments of New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory have already barred police from accessing the data.

The Commonwealth government COVIDSafe app also cannot legally be accessed by police.

Now the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has said there should be “nationally consistent requirements” when it comes to the collection use and disclosure of check-in data through state-run apps.

“Personal information collected for contact-tracing purposes should not be used for other purposes such as law enforcement or even direct marketing,” a spokesman for the privacy body told the SMH.

“Allowing personal information to be used for other purposes may undermine an effective and efficient contact-tracing system, for example, by discouraging individuals from giving accurate information.”

Responding to the OAIC’s concerns, Liberal MP Jason Falinski said “people are going to stop checking in” if they feel their data will be used for anything other than a health outcome.

Originally published as Calls for police to be barred from snooping on QR code check-in data