https://tech.newstatesman.com/security/nhsx-contact-tracing-app-privacy-risks

The concerns surrounding the UK’s “wobbly”, technologically quirky and legally dubious coronavirus contact-tracing app are manifold. But one that comes up repeatedly is that of privacy, and the creeping state surveillance the app could unwittingly usher in. It’s an issue that’s been raised by academics and privacy experts, by the Joint Committee on Human Rights (composed of a number of high profile MPs), and by a thousand online articles. But in the case of the UK, this fear may be somewhat misplaced. That’s because the horse has bolted; we already live in a surveillance state. 

Anxiety over ‘mission creep’, and the possibility that law enforcement and intelligence agencies could someday get their hands on the tracing app’s data were stoked by the revelation that the National Cyber Security Centre, a division of GCHQ, played a role in developing the app. But when GCHQ said it had “no desire” to access the data collected by the app, it might have been telling the truth. “It is quite likely that in terms of technical capacity GCHQ could already acquire much of the data the government might want to acquire [through the app] via technical capacity, e.g. warrants, to acquire GPS data for movements,” says Lilian Edwards, professor of law, innovation and society at Newcastle University.