The next World Cup is expected to be the most curious. Purchased with petrodollars by the absolute monarchy of Qatar, it will not be unusual only because of the location and date, which were chosen to avoid impossible temperatures; or, as happened in the Olympic Games in China, for being held with the consent of the world’s great democracies in a country that does not respect human rights: moreover, it will be especially delicate for those who dare to participate in the event.

As reported in various media around the world, those who will participate in the FIFA World Cup will be forced to install several applications on their phones with a different purpose or, actively or passively, with a different excuse, but with the same secondary effect: spying by the Qatari authorities. On the one hand, for the purpose or excuse of help, and on the other, a wild card that will not fail, i.e. the control of covid-19.

A) Yes, Now is the official app of the World Cup, which is used for participants to track tickets or get free access to the Qatar Metro, among other things. And then there is Once again, a covid-19 tracking app that can be used to check the potential explosion of the contagion, given the overcrowding scenario expected after the start of the championship. Of course, in both cases, it is an application that experts do not expect anything good from.

For example, Hayya requests permission to connect to the network and determine the location of the terminal, as well as to transfer any data collected through an unsecured connection to a remote location where it will remain for as long as those responsible wish, because it is not possible to complain about its removal. All of this is covered in the app’s privacy policy. Hayya will be a de facto mandatory installation as it will be used to manage match tickets.

This time it goes further and in addition to network connection permissions (including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with priority over other apps) and location, will have access to mobile content, i.e. write permissions, which can be used to read, delete or change information stored in the terminal, while preventing the device from going to sleep. This time there will also be a mandatory installation, this one due to the control of the covid-19 pandemic.

Does that sound bad? It’s probably much worseand all that is known about these applications is that they have been published by the developer entities, the Ministry of the Interior in the case of Ehteraz and the organizing committee of the World Cup Hayya. So one can only imagine what they will do, what they didn’t say. In both cases, however, these are applications available – and therefore approved – in the App and Play Stores of Apple and Google, respectively.