Kansas joins plea in asking Google and Apple to regulate COVID-19 tracking apps

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has joined other states’ top law officers in asking Google and Apple to regulate apps connected to COVID-19 contact tracing.

On Tuesday, the attorneys general of 39 states and territories asked the CEOs of both companies to regulate apps reported to help track people’s exposure. The letter asks that the companies verify apps are affiliated with public health organizations — or hospitals or universities working with them — that track the disease and remove apps that are not. It also requests the removal of all related apps “once the COVID-19 national emergency ends.”

The attorneys general also want the companies to provide information once apps have been removed or explain why removing those apps would hinder public health officials affiliated with the app.

These precautions, the letter says, will help protect personal information for millions of people.

“While we welcome your stated focus on a privacy-centered notification and tracing tool for future use, several COVID-19 related contact tracing apps are already available on Google Play and the App Store,” the letter says. “Some of those apps may endanger consumers’ personal information. We are particularly concerned about purportedly ‘free’ apps that utilize GPS tracking, contain advertisements and/or in-app purchases, and are not affiliated with any public health authority or legitimate research institution.”

Under legislation recommended by Schmidt, Kansas legislators earlier this month approved the COVID-19 Contact Tracing Privacy Act, according to a news release from Schmidt’s office. One part of the law prohibits Kansas or local governments from using contact tracing apps to track people’s movements.

This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 5:06 PM.