The free short message service (SMS) registration launched by the government last week so that retail stores and restaurants could record customers’ contact information is only to be used for tracing the contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases, not for mass surveillance, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.
All businesses and public venues are required to record their customers’ contact information for possible use in contact tracing, after the center raised the COVID-19 alert to level 3 for the whole nation on Wednesday last week.
To make registration easier, the Executive Yuan on Wednesday last week launched free registration by SMS, which allows people to scan an establishment’s QR code with their smartphone upon entering and send a record of their visit to the 1922 hotline via text message.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, yesterday said that free SMS registration is only used to trace the contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The records would be destroyed after 28 days, Chen added.
Free SMS registration does not require users to submit any personal data and the users’ service provider only sees their telephone number, the date and time, and the store or restaurant’s code number, which are details that it already has, he said.
The venue would not keep a record of the information and the center would only request records from service providers once cases were confirmed, Chen said.
A rumor had been spread online claiming that the “free SMS registration was a breach of personal privacy and the government is using it for mass surveillance,” but people should stop spreading the rumor, or they could face a fine of up to NT$3 million (US$107,373) for spreading false information about the pandemic, he said.
In a meeting yesterday morning, Taipei and New Taipei City government officials proposed launching a care service program that would call people who have been tested for COVID-19, but are waiting at home for the results, Chen said.
The center approved the proposal, so local governments might dispatch personnel to provide the service, he said.
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