Covid-19 tracking app sharing possible location data with Google

Pictured at the launch of the Department of Health and HSE COVID Tracker App is Stephen Donnelly, TD, Minister for Health, and Paul Reid, Chief Executive Officer, HSE, outside the Department of Health, Dublin, today. Photo: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

Ireland’s Covid Tracker smartphone application is sharing information which could lead to location tracking with Google at least every 20 minutes, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

A new research paper released by the school of computer science and statistics at Trinity College Dublin details the information that is shared - which includes IP address, the handset’s IMEI (its unique identifier which can be used to block its usage), serial number, phone number, and email address - and describes the revelation as being “extremely troubling from a privacy viewpoint”.