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UK COVID surveillance officer used data to track down student on Instagram

The Department of Health says it's investigating the issue.

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In this technology-wrapped world, security and privacy cases are not diminishing and the more data that is collected on people (especially the excess data collected during the coronavirus saga), the more it can be put to bad use.

An operator at the UK NHS Test and Trace exploited his authority to send a female student messages on social media by using her personal information on the COVID surveillance system to track her down.

He called a 22-year-old Oxford undergraduate after she returned from Italy to make sure she was quarantined.

Only an hour later, he used the information that he had collected to find and message the women on Instagram. He described her as “cool” and “beautiful” and inquired about her origins.

The unnamed student said: “This man acted in a predatory manner and has gone out of his way to track me down and send me creepy messages though my private Instagram page.

“Someone like that should not be working for NHS Test and Trace, where they can access such sensitive personal data… there was the possibility that his online stalking could progress to physical stalking.”

The Department of Health is investigating the incident, the Daily Mail reported.

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