Norway’s Public Health Institute (FHI) said it will stop gathering information through the Smittestopp coronavirus mobile application and will delete data already collected, after the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilysnet) issued a temporary ban on privacy grounds. The authority said the app interferes disproportionately with user privacy given the current virus transmission rate, the technology chosen, and general support for the app.
FHI director-general Camilla Stoltenberg said the institute does not agree with the authority's evaluation. She said it will lose time in developing and testing the app, leading to poorer control over transmission in Norway. The institute will reply to the authority by the 23 June deadline.
By 03 June, Smittestopp had been downloaded 1.6 million times and almost 600,000 active users were sharing information with FIH. The app has been tested in three municipalities but the low number of confirmed cases in Norway has made it difficult to test whether Smittestopp alerts users who may have been exposed to infection, said the FHI.
Initial analyses show that the physical distance between people has narrowed, with a noticeable change around the 10 May. This is important information that relates how infection control measures are working, said the institute.
