Re:Dissection of COVIDSafe (Android): Australian government'...
by mickotron on Tuesday April 28, 2020 @02:59AM
(#23004266)
This only matters if it's mandatory, which voting is in Australia.
This app is voluntary. Whether it has passed or not yet, legislation is planned to make it illegal to force anyone to download or use it. So trying it to a phone number is ok if it's totally voluntary.
Also because users are not identified by their phone number under normal circumstances, this is also ok.
If someone steals or leaks the key used to encrypt/decrypt all TempIds for all users, or can figure out a pattern in the generation of future TempIds for users, they can possibly tie people to their phone number and identify them.
However under normal use there is no way to identify someone, well unless they can snoop the broadcast/encounter json messages and get your device ID and toe that to you
Parent also forgot to mention mandatory data retention laws. All isps must retain history of internet traffic for ¿2 years.
That telephone numbers are used in this app should also be regarded as a breach of the referendum we had about the Australia Card back in the 80's. (It is illegal to tie citizens to a number for the sake of tracking, which is exactly what this does...). Which is why scomo (Scott Morrison, the PM) is asking for this app to be voluntary.