Has the abuse of ‘test and trace’ started already?

I was followed three times in five days by men I didn’t know. During a pandemic – at any time, really – you would think they would have something better to do. They made gestures, shouted, catcalled, but I managed to lose them each time, partially because they had none of my details. They didn’t know my name, my number or my address.

But what if they did know that information? What if they had been working at a bar I had gone to with friends and given my contact details over, for test and trace.

That was the experience of one young woman this week. Shortly after she went to the pub, she received a message online by the bartender serving her. Asking her out for a drink, he added ‘I’m really sorry for messaging … I definitely didn’t use that track and trace thing to find you.’ Clearly not that sorry, otherwise he wouldn’t have messaged at all.

You cannot use personal information collected for contact tracing for any other purposes, but it looks like some people are not listening

The Information Commissioner’s Office have said that you cannot use the personal information collected for contact tracing for any other purposes, but it looks like some people are not listening to that.