QR Checkin – Qld, Australia
Check In Qld is provided by the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy (also called CHDE) and Queensland Health and the Hospital and Health Services (collectively ‘Queensland Health’) as part of the Queensland Government’s response to a declared public health emergency (COVID-19) under the Public Health Act 2005 (Qld).
Per Privacy Statement on the COVID19.qld.gov.au the Check in Qld app is a voluntary app. You do not have to use Check In Qld to check in at a venue or event – but if you don’t, then you must register your attendance in that venue or event by other means. Please confirm the details of these alternative methods with the business or organisation. By using or accessing Check In Qld, you are agreeing that CHDE may collect, use, hold and disclose your personal information as set out in this policy. If you don’t agree to this Privacy Policy, then do not access or use Check In Qld.
If you are concerned about your Privacy / Checkin Privacy Policy (see my discussion below) and do not wish to use the Checkin Qld app, then I recommend downloading the document below, and carry on you at all times to educate venues about your rights. You could download the image, print on an A4 page, fold in half to A5 size, then laminate the double-sided flyer.
Qld Council for Civil Liberties
QCCL President Michael Cope said today [April 2021]:
“The QCCL is extremely concerned about the government’s decision to make the Checkin QLD app mandatory for entry to restaurants, pubs etc without adequate privacy protection”
“The QCCL calls on the government to provide assurances to the people of Queensland, that data collected from the Check in QLD app will be used solely for the stated purpose of contact tracing. QCCL also seeks assurances that information collected from the Check-in app will not be used for law enforcement purposes or any other additional purpose” said Mr. Cope
Mr. Cope said, “Those assurances can only be satisfactorily provided by the passage of specific legislation limiting the use of data collected and providing for its destruction”.
The current privacy statement on the App is in fact misleading and deceptive, it says:
If required, CHDE will disclose your personal information to Queensland Health who will use your information for the purposes of contact tracing
Most Queenslanders will find this a comforting reassurance that the data will only be used for contact tracing purposes. But the privacy policy then says:
Information collected using the Check In Qld app may be disclosed to, and used:
• by authorities with powers and responsibilities in relation to COVID-19 (and those helping them) such as the Chief Health Officer and Queensland Health (including the Hospital and Health Services) for compliance activities, and for the purposes of overseeing and managing the Queensland Government’s COVID-19 response;
• where the use or disclosure is authorised or required by law
As every police officer in Queensland is an emergency officer under the Public Health Act this would allow information to be disclosed to the police for the extremely broad purpose of “compliance activities” relating to Covid.
“Most people would be surprised to learn that police are to be involved in contact tracing. And the range of activities for which the data can be used is much broader than contact tracing.”
But even broader is the power to disclose the data for purposes “authorised or required by law”. This would permit police access to this data for non Covid related purposes at the stroke of a pen by a bureaucrat.
We know this from the practice of police accessing Gocard data some years ago to make it easier to serve subpoenas, which was done on exactly that basis. Whilst processes were put in place to control such access in our view they were and are inadequate https://www.oic.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/7766/report-go-card-disclosure.pdf.
We have already seen that the Singapore TraceTogether App, on which the COVIDSafe App was based, can be accessed by police in the course of a criminal investigation. This is despite explicit assurances that the App would only be used for contact tracing.
The government should introduce specific legislation like that introduced for the Covidsafe app to secure the privacy of Queenslanders in relation to the Check in App data. That legislation should:
1. have a defined end date, which we would suggest be should be 30 September 2021 consistent with other Covid emergency legislation passed by the parliament recently.
2. specify that on that date all data currently held will be deleted.
3. prohibit access by law enforcement to the data, Including by subpoena or warrant.
4. specify that the data is only to be accessed for contract tracing purposes and no other purposes. It must prohibit secondary use or disclosure of the data.
5. specifically task the Privacy Commissioner with oversight of access to the data, including providing regular reports to the relevant Parliamentary committee.
6. not include delegation of the primary legislation or ministerial discretion, particularly relating to the sunset period.
“QCCL strongly opposes the use of information gathered for health purposes for law enforcement or any other additional purpose, the use of the Checkin App should not be made mandatory until this legislation is passed” says Mr. Cope.
https://www.qccl.org.au/newsblog/mandatory-checkin-app-raises-privacy-issues
Why be concerned about your Privacy ?
Here in Australia, each state has their own QR Checkin App. Exactly WHAT the app collects about you, how this information is used & who can access your data is a ‘grey area’ not covered by legislation.
For example, the The WA government confirmed in early June 2021 that the state’s police force accessed contact registration information on two occasions [from the SafeWA app] while investigating two serious crimes.
It was revealed in late June 2021 that Victoria Police had attempted to take data from the app three times, but was blocked by the health department. However the Victorian government won’t move to completely block police access to its COVID-19 QR code check-in app data. Liberty Victoria president Julia Kretzenbacher said “The government needs to introduce laws which state expressly that check-in data can only be used for public health purposes. Police already have sufficient and strong investigation powers, they do not also need access to private check-in data,”
Police in Queensland accessed data from the state’s QR code check-in contact tracing app to investigate a theft, with legislative changes now being considered to prevent this happening again.
Whilst the above scenarios may not appear nefarious, you may say ‘they are all criminals afterall’, the question that needs to be pondered is ‘What is a criminal’. With organisations such a FakeBook citing people as ‘Extremists’ or the Centre for Countering Digital Hate trying to silence those who don’t conform to the one narrative, could those that choose Critical Thinking, SpeakingUp & Asking the Hard Questions be one day deemed a CRIMINAL ? Or in the words of ASIO an ideologically motivated violent extremism ?
Did you know that ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) has changed it’s wording around terrorism? In this article – ‘Words matter’: ASIO ditches ‘right-wing’ and ‘Islamic’ extremism labels as it changes its language on terror‘ – ASIO says they will stop referring to “right-wing extremism” and “Islamic extremism” to talk about violent threats, saying the labels are “no longer fit for purpose”.
Instead, ASIO will now refer to “ideologically motivated violent extremism” and “religiously motivated violent extremism”
“People often think we’re talking about skinheads with swastika tattoos and jackboots roaming the backstreets like extras from Romper Stomper, but it’s no longer that obvious…
Today’s ideological extremist is more likely to be motivated by a social or economic grievance than National Socialism. More often than not, they are young, well-educated, articulate, and middle class – and not easily identified… The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in violent extremists spending more time at home in “the echo chamber of the internet on the pathway to radicalisation… They were able to access hate-filled manifestos and attack instructions, without some of the usual circuit breakers that contact with community provides,” Mike Burgess – Director General, ASIO
COVID-19 Digital Rights Tracker
This live tracker documents new measures introduced in response to COVID-19 that pose a risk to digital rights around the world.
https://www.top10vpn.com/research/covid-19-digital-rights-tracker/
Ethical guidelines for COVID-19 tracing apps
Protect privacy, equality and fairness in digital contact tracing with these key questions.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01578-0
QR Checkin – Australia Wide
With new “COVID” directives issued by State Governments being updated all the time, here’s some vital information to keep everyone in the community fully empowered and fully informed. As they say, knowledge is power!
Links – Know your Rights
Federal Government Privacy Act
https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/pa1988108/s94h.html
Federal Laws override State Laws
https://www.constitutionwatch.com.au/section109-notes
You can be fined $5000, for refusing goods or services to people NOT wearing a mask.
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018C001254
Exposing yourself & customers to untrustworthy data app service provider
https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/service-nsws-handling-of-personal- information
Unlawful to discriminate against someone who is not wearing a mask or refuses to supply their personal information if you are allowing other members of the public to enter your premises
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00143
