Adapting to current conditions

Lianhe Wanbao, 5 Feb

In an opinion piece, the writer discussed the recent bill restricting the use of personal contact tracing data in criminal investigations in Singapore. The proposed law makes clear that the police can apply to use the data only in investigations of seven categories of serious offences that pose an immediate threat to life or public safety. They include the use of firearms and dangerous weapons, terrorism, murder, drug offences that attract the death penalty, kidnapping and rape. The writer quoted Prof Ang Peng Hwa from NTU’s WKWSCI, who raised an ethical dilemma in “choosing between the right to protect public health by protecting TraceTogether data and the equally important right to protect public safety from serious crimes.”