Government may consider new legislation in light of phone data location tracking revelation, Taoiseach says

"It emerged that phone data could even be tracked back to specific residential addresses. These included health clinics, mental health facilities, military bases, prisons and even Government offices. Such broker data has raised major security concerns about personal privacy - and even security at State offices. The Taoiseach said both the Government and the Data Protection Commissioner will look at the revelations and consider whether legislative changes might be required."

""People should not share their location data," Mr Martin warned. "I think one of the issues is when people are downloading apps or they are in a hurry they do not read all the terms and conditions." "They tend to bypass those and they just want to get access to things. Basically, we do need to examine it because there are security implications...the tracking of movement, particularly people who may be vulnerable and exposed on security grounds.""

""Again, GDPR relates to - there could be an issue there legally in terms of the dividing line and the demarcation line in terms of GDPR and anonymous location identification." "The Data Protection Commissioner is looking at this but the Government will also examine this, discuss this and engage with the Commission and the industry, particularly in terms of the security dimension of this development.""

Phone location data brokers can match devices to specific residential addresses, including health clinics, mental health facilities, military bases, prisons and Government offices, creating significant privacy and security vulnerabilities. The Data Protection Commission signalled extreme concern and the Taoiseach acknowledged potential security implications while saying Government and the Data Protection Commissioner will examine the matter and may consider legislative changes. People were warned not to share location data and to read app terms and conditions. The Government will engage with the Data Protection Commissioner and industry to assess GDPR, anonymous location identification, and security dimensions and consider options.

Read at Irish Independent