Demand privacy protections for Test & Trace

The Government’s Test and Trace Programme risks the privacy rights of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of individuals in the UK whose personal data has been or will be processed through the Programme.

Government has not made the effort to check our data is safe. They are making the same privacy missteps that damaged the NHSX tracker app.

Open Rights Group (ORG) was forced to take action, because the Information Commissioner is not doing its job. When the regulator fails, it is up to us to step in.

After we threatened legal action, the Government was forced to admit that the entire Test & Trace programme has been operating unlawfully since its launch on 28th May 2020.

The UK is flying blind

The public can’t trust the Programme because a vital (and legally required) safety step known as a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) was dangerously ignored.

DPIAs serve the same safety function as a health and safety or a fire assessment. Unless it is done and conducted properly, the Government will be unaware of the risks they are running. This means the Government, and the entire UK public along with them, are walking into this project blind.

The Test and Trace Programme has been rushed; private contractors have been employed to deliver it with large numbers of new employees. Many systems have been bolted together at short notice.

We are doing everything we can to ensure the Test and Trace Programme is made safer by undergoing a proper DPIA to evaluate the privacy risks.