Bipartisan Coalition of Attorneys General Expresses Concern about Contact Tracing Apps Privacy Implications in Letters Sent to Apple and Google
Lincoln – In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Attorney General Peterson and a bipartisan coalition of 39 attorneys general asked Google and Apple to ensure all contact tracing and exposure notification apps related to COVID-19 adequately protect consumers’ personal information. Specifically, the coalition asked Google and Apple to guarantee that such apps, when available to consumers, are affiliated with a public health authority and removed from Google Play and the App Store once no longer needed by public health authorities.
In a letter sent today to the Chief Executive Officers of Apple and Google, cosponsored by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, the Attorneys General acknowledge that while digital contact tracing and exposure notification tools are valuable in understanding the spread of COVID-19 and assisting public health authorities, these same technologies pose a risk to consumers’ privacy.
“Public health authorities across the country and throughout Nebraska are working diligently to understand the spread of COVID-19,” Attorney General Peterson said. “Contract tracing and exposure notification apps that collect sensitive information from consumers without meaningfully contributing to this understanding deserve no place in the App Store or on Google Play.”
The coalition expressed concern regarding contact tracing and exposure notification apps available to consumers in Google Play and the App Store, particularly the “free” apps that utilize GPS tracking, offer in-app purchases, and are not affiliated with any public health authority or legitimate research institution.
To protect consumers without interfering with public health efforts to monitor and address the spread of COVID-19, the letters ask Google and Apple to: