Matt Hancock MP Launches App To Bemusement Of General Public
Matt Hancock – some people know him, some people don’t – he’s the current Digital, Culture, Media & Sport secretary of the United Kingdom and forms part of Her Majesty’s Government.
His department is the former Culture, Media & Sport department and in an effort to show that he considers ‘Digital’ an important part of his role, he’s embraced the world of digital and employed a development agency to make an app. A phone app. An app you can use on your tablets. An app all about…
Matt Hancock
Introducing the new ‘Matt Hancock’ app! To quote an early adopter, Robert Hutton, “it’s like having an actual Matt Hancock in the palm of your hand!”.
Stills are from the intro video that you are greeted with after first launching the Matt Hancock app. The purported aim of the app is to engage with his local constituents in West Suffolk but, needless to say, in a matter of days, Matt Hancock has gone global. OK, global *may* be a slight exaggeration but he’s certainly gone national. Absolutely further than West Suffolk.
Although no, I’ve not personally joined the Matt Hancock revolution yet.
What’s It All About?
Well, leaving connecting with constituents to one side, it’s social media, kind of Facebook-esque (old world, not current!) and people can be social with each other.
But… rather than having Mark Zuckerberg to idolise like a god you have Matt Hancock. Matt Hancock has put himself all over the app. You can check in on what Matt Hancock is currently doing. Look at what he’s having for tea. Have a look at the latest selfie he’s taken.
But, it’s not a vanity project… honest!
Who Are The People Using It?
Good question – at the moment, journalists have jumped all over. Also, Matt Hancock seems to have a lot of ‘fans’ that have also joined up. Also, following his new found fame with the launch of the eponymous app, a whole cross section of society appear to have signed up. International take up appears low at this time, but it’s early days.
Whilst users of the worlds biggest social networking site Facebook are sometimes unofficially known as ‘Facebookers’ or ‘Zuckers’, following on in a similar fashion, users of Matt Hancock are affectionately (yet unofficially, as far as we know) known as ‘Mancocks’ or just ‘cocks’ for short (hence the 17+ app rating).
What’s Not To Like?
Well, not much I guess.
The department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which oversees the Information Commissioners Office, stresses the importance of app developers following it’s official guidance for privacy in mobile apps.
Seems developers Disciple Media may not have got the memo though.
1/ Hold me twitter. Here goes. (1) no Privacy Policy on the App landing page which doesn’t meet Apples guidelines (2) The app is promoted as the ‘Official App for Matt Hancock’ but the ‘seller’ is Disciple Media Ltd (3) Individuals must tick to ‘accept’ a Privacy Policy and ToS
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
2/ Buried in the Privacy Policy only available AFTER install, is a statement that by accepting the PP individuals CONSENT to sharing their personal information with third parties for them to contact you directly about marketing, competitions and offers + consent to aggregating
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
3/ aggregating and anonymising “your data’ and providing it on an ‘anonymous’ basis to third parties 🤔 So, not only do we gave questions of fair and lawful processing under the DPA 98, but also, non-compliance with Regulation 22 of PECRs.
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
4/ According to the Privacy Policy ‘US’ ‘We’ = Disciple Media Limited. Section 1 states “For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the ‘Act”), we are the data controller and we will only use the information that we collect about you lawfully (in accordance with the Act)
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
5/ BUT Disciple Media Limited does not appear to be registered with the @ICOnews 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ntSRfZpJDd
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
5/ BUT Disciple Media Limited does not appear to be registered with the @ICOnews 🤔 pic.twitter.com/ntSRfZpJDd
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
7/ Disciple Media Limited also does not have a privacy policy on its website https://t.co/G83Q5TIejR
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
8/ So, while Matt Hancock is registered with the @ICOnews Disciple Media Limited is not showing a current registration. Matt Hancock and Disciple Media appear to be joint data controllers. 🤔 Oh, and the app sues analytics from mix panel – ok, more digging to do pic.twitter.com/YnLfUrMsX7
— Privacy Matters (@PrivacyMatters) February 1, 2018
Given the recent debacle surrounding allegedly “handsy” MP’s, Matt Hancock sure wants to get his hands on your data:
Hang about… pic.twitter.com/ikXs3zIkX8
— Robert Hutton (@RobDotHutton) February 1, 2018
No way. pic.twitter.com/Q3lvq5ajPz
— Robert Hutton (@RobDotHutton) February 1, 2018
But, at least he asks.
Will Matt Hancock overtake Facebook? Only time can tell.
For now, we’ll leave you with Matt Hancock singing ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ in the style of Queen – enjoy!
