You could be forced to show NHS app Covid passport for MUCH more than flights, says expert

In a post on The Conversation, Eerke Boiten, Professor of Cybersecurity for the School of Computer Science and Informatics at De Montfort University, has taken a deep dive into the NHS app’s privacy policy.

And Professor Boiten highlighted some eye-catching lines in the privacy policy for the ‘Covid Status Certificate’, which can be read in full here. Specifically, one section in the document says the personal data that is processed could be used for “further aspects of unlocking”, not just international travel.

The document says: “The principle of the Covid Status Certificate programme is to ensure that illness and death from Covid-19 can be minimised as the UK’s social and economic life is re-established. This will apply both during and after the Government ‘roadmap’ allows citizens to emerge from the restrictions placed on the country during the COVID-19 pandemic response.

“The Covid Status Certificate provides citizens with evidence of their vaccination history. As the country resumes normal functions, this data will be useful for further aspects of unlocking as they arise, e.g for International travel or attendance at domestic events once these have been permitted by government policy and guidance.”

Professor Boiten says this raises a number of issues, including whether NHS vaccine passports will be used beyond international travel.