Hello everyone and welcome to ZD Tech, ZDNet’s daily editorial podcast. I am Guillaume Serries and today I explain to you why the CNIL warns French supporters traveling to Qatar to leave their smartphones at home.
Do you still want to support Les Bleus in Qatar? I say “always want to” because as the opening match of the World Cup approaches this Sunday, controversy is exploding over the merits of awarding this competition to this country.
On the tech side and protection of personal data, it also seems that there are some concerns. You should already know that Qatar prohibits filming and taking photos with your smartphone in government buildings, schools, housing for migrant workers, places of worship and hospitals.
Leaking mobile apps
But that’s not all. The French CNIL (National Commission for Computing and Liberties) recommends that supporters travel with a blank smartphone, or use an old reset phone. Even take a prepaid disposable phone. Why, then ?
Well, because the Qatari government strongly encourages foreign nationals who tread their territory to install two mobile applications which, according to cybersecurity experts, are similar to spyware.
The first application, named Hayya, allows you to find your way around and get to matches. The second application, called Ehteraz, allows you to follow the Covid-19 epidemic. And these two mobile applications would draw galore from the data hosted in your smartphones. Worse, these two applications would allow you to delete or modify the content of your phone, and even, icing on the cake, to make calls.
GDPR does not exist in Qatar
“One of the applications collects data to find out if a phone call is made and with which number”, warns the German data protection authority. “The other app is preventing the device it’s installed on from going to sleep mode. »
Of course, the general conditions of use of these applications are explicit on this subject. But yes, you also don’t read them. The French Minister of Digital, Jean-Noël Barrot, for his part insisted on the fact that unlike France, the GDPR does not exist in Qatar.
Hence the idea pushed by the CNIL to travel with a smartphone devoid of any personal information. And if you ever absolutely want to take your smartphone to Qatari stadiums, the French privacy police advises to – and I quote – “limit system authorizations to those strictly necessary”.
Only connect to secure Wi-Fi networks
The CNIL also recommends that travelers install the applications just before their departure and delete them as soon as they return to France, or to only connect to secure Wi-Fi networks.
“In any event, particular vigilance will be required for content that could place you in difficulty vis-à-vis the legislation of the country visited,” adds the data protection authority. And to illustrate the point with LGBT + content prohibited in the country.