Call for the removal of contact tracing apps in app stores

Kansas (US) Attorney General Derek Schmidt is calling for Google and Apple to take responsibility for contact tracing apps on their platforms

Kansas (US) Attorney General Derek Schmidt is calling for Google and Apple to take responsibility for contact tracing apps on their platforms.

There are countless apps on the market currently claiming to help contain the spread of COVID-19 with contact tracing, which is putting consumers’ personal information at risk says AG Schmidt.

In a letter sent to the companies, Schmidt and 36 other attorneys general asked Google and Apple to take responsibility for policing the growing number of fake contact tracking apps and related notification apps available for download on their platforms.

[These unregulated apps pose] a risk to consumers’ personally identifiable information, including sensitive health information, that could continue long after the present public health emergency ends, write the attorneys general.

Several COVID-19 related contact tracing apps are already available on Google Play and the App Store. Some of those apps may endanger consumers’ personal information. We are particularly concerned about purportedly ‘free’ apps that utilize GPS tracking, contain advertisements and/or in-app purchases, and are not affiliated with any public health authority or legitimate research institution.

Specifically, the attorneys general are asking that the platforms verify every app labelled or marketed as related to contact tracing or related to COVID-19, to remove any app that cannot be verified and pledge to remove all COVID-19 related exposure notifications and contact tracing apps.

Implementing these limited measures could help protect the personally identifiable information and sensitive health data of millions of consumers during this crisis, the attorneys general wrote to the companies.