Smittestopp had limited effect because of the small number of users, says data agency
The Smittestopp app was being used by only 600,000 of Norway’s population of 4.5 million. Photograph: Heiko Junge/NTB Scanpix/AFP/Getty
Norway’s health authorities said they suspended an app designed to help trace the spread of coronavirus after the country’s data protection agency said it was too invasive of privacy.
Launched in April, the smartphone app Smittestopp (“infection stop”) was set up to collect movement data to help authorities trace the spread of Covid-19, and inform users if they had been exposed to someone carrying the virus.
On Friday, the data agency Datatilsynet issued a warning that it would stop the Norwegian Institute of Public Health from handling data collected via Smittestopp.
