Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo says Waze’s Israeli legal jurisdiction and location data concerns underpin the ban on civil servants using it for official duties.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians could face difficulties seeking legal redress in disputes involving Waze, as the navigation application’s terms of service are governed by Israeli law, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said.
He said the legal jurisdiction governing Waze was among the concerns behind the government’s decision to prohibit civil servants from using the application for official duties.
“When we use an application, we agree to certain terms and conditions.
“If we look at that agreement, it is clear that it falls under the jurisdiction of Israeli law,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Gobind said this raised concerns about whether Malaysians would be able to pursue legal remedies should disputes involving the application arise.
“That becomes a problem for us because if something happens, there is no certainty that we, as Malaysians, can obtain legal remedies through the legal process in Israel.
“That is why we have the ban on Waze, specifically concerning legal and security aspects,” he said.
Beyond the legal implications, Gobind also raised concerns about the application’s handling of users’ location data, citing information suggesting that their movements could still be determined even when Waze was not actively being used.
“From the information I have received, even if we are not using Waze, our movements can still be determined through the application,” he said.
However, Gobind clarified that the restriction applied only to civil servants using the application for official duties and did not extend to the general public.
“Firstly, the ban applies to government employees and civil servants as defined under the Federal Constitution. It does not apply to all Malaysians.
“Secondly, it only applies to official matters,” he said.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Young Syefura Othman (PH-Bentong), who raised concerns about the locally developed TuJu navigation application following Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recommendation that Malaysians switch from Waze.
Young Syefura said she had downloaded TuJu herself but found its functionality disappointing, reflecting concerns raised by other users about the application’s readiness as an alternative.
Gobind said TuJu, developed with the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) under the Works Ministry, initially focused on providing highway traffic information but was being expanded to offer wider navigation services.
“Now, it is being expanded so that its services can go beyond monitoring traffic flow on highways,” he said.
Acknowledging the need for improvements, Gobind said the Digital Ministry would explore cooperation through GovTech to strengthen TuJu, PINTAZ and other navigation services.
“Besides TuJu, we can also use other applications such as Google Maps.
“There has been no statement saying that we can only use TuJu,” he said.
On Oct 21, Anwar announced the restriction on Waze for civil servants over concerns about sensitive government information and personal data, while encouraging Malaysians to consider locally developed navigation alternatives.
Waze was originally developed in Israel before being acquired by Google in 2013. Its published terms of service state that Israeli law governs the application, with disputes subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts in the Tel Aviv district.