The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released its first six-monthly report on the privacy and security of Australia's COVIDSafe app[1], which has been far from successful and only identified a small number of unique cases[2].
The app, which was touted at its introduction as being akin to sunscreen, has since been relegated to double-checking duties[3].
"There is scarce evidence on the effectiveness of digital or automated contact tracing," a contact tracing review[4] released earlier this month said.
For the OAIC, from May 16 to November 15, it fielded no complaints about the app and handled 11 enquiries. Over half of the enquiries occurred in July, and no enquiries were reported for October or November.
"We provided general information in response to 10 enquiries and provided assistance on how to make a complaint in response to one enquiry," the OAIC said.
The types of enquiries handled were about the legal basis of the app, the number of downloads of the app, whether the app could be a condition of entry to a worksite, whether education organisations could force students to download the app, and whether sporting organisations could force members to use the app.
Must read: Living with COVID-19 creates a privacy dilemma for us all[5]
The OAIC has also started four assessments related to the access controls used on the data store, functionality of the app against privacy policy and collection notices, and whether the data store administrator was complying with requirements related to data handling, retention, and deletion.
The title of data store administrator was passed from the Department of Health to the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) on May 16.
Attached to