Malaysia has banned its civil servants from using Waze, the Google-owned navigation app, citing data-security concerns over the app’s Israeli links. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim went further and urged all Malaysians to stop using Waze and switch to local alternatives such as TuJu.
The scope matters here. The reported ban applies to civil servants. For everyone else, Anwar’s message is an appeal to stop using the app, as The Straits Times and AP report it.
Why Malaysia banned Waze for civil servants
The decision followed a National Cyber Security Committee meeting that Anwar chaired on October 20, according to The Straits Times. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office the next day set out the government’s reasoning.
Sensitive government information and the personal data of citizens must be protected from exploitation by the Israeli regime in ways that could undermine national security and sovereignty
That’s from the Prime Minister’s Office statement of October 21, as quoted by The Straits Times.
The government’s concern centers on who controls the data. According to AP, the statement pointed to Waze Mobile Limited’s status as the app’s data controller. That company is incorporated in Israel and operates under Israeli law. Waze itself is owned by Google.
Reuters, as cited by ITHome, reported that Chief Secretary Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar said all civil servants are banned from the app. Google had not commented as of Reuters’ report.
What switching to TuJu means
TuJu was developed by the Malaysian Highway Authority. The Straits Times reports that users have complained about crashes, inaccurate information and missing features.
That leaves Malaysian drivers weighing the government’s data concerns against a local app with reported reliability problems. For another look at what navigation apps can do with location data, see our report on MapQuest’s license plate reader layer.
Sources: The Straits Times, AP via The Washington Post
