Gov’t to own data from contact tracing application StaySafe.ph - Palace

The Philippines’ COVID-19 task force has set conditions to ensure the effective use and management of contact tracing application StaySafe.ph, Malacañang said Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said the Department of Health and the Multisys Technologies Corporation, the private developer of StaySafe.ph, entered into an agreement to further strengthen compliance with relevant cybersecurity, data privacy and confidentiality laws.

The terms of the agreement, which were mentioned in the resolution approved by the inter-agency task force on Wednesday, are as follows:

• the donation and use of StaySafe.ph application shall include the source code, all data, data ownership and intellectual property
• the DOH shall accept the StaySafe.ph application upon the issuance by the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Privacy Commission of a certification that the donation is technically feasible and secure, that systems are compatible and that the arrangement is compliant with data privacy laws
• the version of StaySafe.ph to be donated by Multisys must be able to perform the functions of two separate applications: 1) bluetooth digital contact tracing which shall be connected to tracing technologies and 2) serve as the frontend application system for local government units
• the function of StaySafe.ph application shall be limited to collection of data while, on the other hand, all data collected shall be stored in the DOH’s COVID-KAYA system
• all data currently in the database of StaySafe.ph shall be migrated to COVID-KAYA

“Ibig sabihin po, lahat po ng mga nirereklamo ng mga kritiko ng StaySafe.ph lahat po iyan ay binigyan ng atensiyon ng IATF at ang gobyerno po ang magmamay-ari ng data,” Roque said at a televised briefing.

Multisys has 30 days to comply with the terms or else the IATF will withdraw its endorsement of StaySafe.ph as the official contact tracing application of the government and the developer must transfer all data to the DICT.

Earlier, former DICT Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said that StaySafe.ph was selected as the sole contact tracing application to monitor the spread of COVID-19 despite compatibility and privacy issues.

He also said his recommendation to have a central platform was ignored by the IATF. -MDM, GMA News