The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and Google allegedly covertly installed spyware on one million cell phones with Android operating systems. According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), the tech giant and the state administration implemented this program without user approval to control the spread of the coronavirus:
Conspiring with a private company to hijack residents’ smartphones without the owners’ knowledge or consent is not a tool that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health ('DPH') may lawfully employ in its efforts to combat COVID-19.
NCLA followed up on its Twitter account:
Your smartphone could be spying on you. 👀
NCLA has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for working with Google to auto-install Covid tracing spyware on the phones of over one million residents. https://t.co/5t6P73g4t9 pic.twitter.com/HndBca7CtT
- New Civil Liberties Alliance (@NCLAlegal) November 16, 2022
In its lawsuit, NCLA speaks of a "brazen disregard for civil liberties" for installing "spyware that deliberately tracks and records movement and personal contacts onto over a million mobile devices without their owners’ permission and awareness." In addition, it claims that the actions violate the Massachusetts and U.S. Constitutions.
Spyware likely still installed
According to the lawsuit, this spy application was automatically installed on cell phones. If users deleted it, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health would automatically re-download it.
The spyware allegedly connected via Bluetooth to other devices, resulting in the exchange of personal data. Subsequently, these records would be made available to DPH and Google, the organization said:
Those with access to the system logs can also use time stamped data… to determine the owner’s past contacts, locations and movement.
NCLA believes that the spyware still "exists on the overwhelming majority of the devices on which it was installed."
