COVID-19: SMS registration used for tracing ‘confirmed cases’NO MASS SURVEILLANCE: An interior ministry official said users’ telecoms see the number, the date and time, and the venue’s code — which they already haveBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe 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. A woman scans a QR code to register her contact information before entering the Zhongxiao-Fuxing MRT Station in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei TimesDeputy 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 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.

Source: Taipei Times May 23, 2021 15:56 UTC