Why data, including those from TraceTogether, is vital in policing and keeping Singapore safe

By MUHAMMAD FAIZAL ABDUL RAHMAN

Published JANUARY 06, 2021

The Singapore Parliament heard on Monday (Jan 4) that the TraceTogether programme continues to be essential to contact tracing. Although a year has passed since Covid-19 became a global crisis, the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel remains distant.Of greater interest is the parliamentary answer by Mr Desmond Tan, Minister of State for Home Affairs, that the police may use TraceTogether data for criminal investigations under the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

This revelation has understandably given rise to privacy concerns.On Tuesday, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, said that he had not thought of the CPC when he assured people earlier that the Government would use TraceTogether data for contact tracing only.Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam then said that the police’s use of TraceTogether data would be restricted to serious crimes such as murder.

Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/why-data-including-those-tracetogether-vital-policing-and-keeping-singapore-safe