ARTICLES WE RECOMMEND
EU Quest for COVID-19 Apps, A Blow to GDPR and Digital Sovereignty, Center for Data Innovation, 13 May 2020
The COVID-19 crisis led to an acceleration of digital solutions to track and monitor the spread of the virus, including the rollout of contact tracing apps by various countries. Some saw in these efforts an opportunity for the EU to create its own homegrown infrastructure without having to cede its “digital sovereignty” to U.S. tech companies, while demonstrating that stringent privacy standards are a winning comparative advantage. Unfortunately, these attempts have fallen short and revealed that the EU’s own data protection and privacy rules are in fact working against its efforts to tackle the virus, calling into question its broader digital strategy.
France is using AI to check whether people are wearing masks on public transport, 7 May 2020, The Verge
France is integrating new AI tools into security cameras in the Paris metro system to check whether passengers are wearing face masks. The introduction of AI software to monitor and possibly enforce these measures will be closely watched. The spread of AI-powered surveillance and facial recognition software in China has worried many privacy advocates in the West, but the pandemic is an immediate threat that governments may feel takes priority over dangers to individual privacy.
Poland is making quarantined citizens use a selfie app to prove they're staying inside, 23 March 2020, CBS News
In response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Poland is asking quarantined residents to prove that they're following the rules and staying at home – by taking selfies. The country launched a phone app on Friday for residents who are under mandatory 14-day quarantines after returning from abroad. The app uses geolocation and facial recognition technology, and randomly requests selfies. The user has 20 minutes to upload the selfie from safe inside their quarantine – or the police will pay them a visit.
Nearly 40% of Icelanders are using a covid app—and it hasn’t helped much, 11 May 2020, MIT
Rakning C-19, which launched in early April, was hailed as a way to “make the tracing of transmissions easier” at the time. It tracks users’ GPS data to compile a record of where they have been, allowing investigators—with permission—to look at whether those with a positive diagnosis are potentially spreading the disease. And it gained traction quickly: according to MIT Technology Review’s Covid Tracing Tracker, it has the largest penetration rate of all contact trackers in the world, having been downloaded by 38% of Iceland’s population of 364,000. But despite this early deployment and widespread use, one senior figure in the country’s covid-19 response says the real impact of Rakning C-19 has been small, compared with manual tracing techniques like phone calls.
To fight COVID-19, your iPhone will share medical info during emergency calls, 6 May 2020, Fast Company
Apple is adding a new “Share Medical ID During Emergency Calls” feature that will send along your health information with any SOS calls you make with your iPhone or Apple Watch. An SOS call is a feature on iPhone and Apple Watch that allows users to call for emergency help with one screen swipe if they are unable to dial 911. The company says the new feature, which will become available “in the coming weeks,” is meant to provide further assistance to emergency first responders during the COVID-19 crisis.
COVID-19 and contact tracing: a call for digital diligence, 15 May 2020, ReliefWeb
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact society worldwide, contact tracing apps are being developed in a bid to contain the spread of the virus. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a global humanitarian network with a long experience of working on health issues, including in the most challenging contexts, is inherently concerned with the debate on contact tracing. This blog offers a perspective on why and how the humanitarian principle of ‘do no harm’ must extend today to ‘do no digital harm’, safeguarding the principle of humanity at the core of any policy. How can digital contact tracing be most appropriately used to save lives while respecting individual rights, including the right to privacy?
Five things we need to do to make contact tracing really work, 28 April 2020, MIT
Without federal leadership, the hard work of contact tracing is being left to a coalition of states, medics, and technology companies like Google and Apple. They can make it happen, but it won't be easy. The ongoing pandemic is fertile ground for opportunistic hucksters, loud frauds, and coronavirus deniers who attack or blame everyone and everything from Chinese-Americans to Bill Gates to 5G networks. The latest front in this bizarre war: contact tracing.
Bluetooth may not work well enough to trace coronavirus contacts, 12 May 2020, New Scientist
The UK’s upcoming contact tracing app aimed at limiting the future spread of coronavirus may not be an effective tool for identify whether users have had close contact with someone carrying the virus, and should not seen as a panacea, according to a study of how Bluetooth signals work in real world situations. The app…was described this week by the government’s covid-19 recovery document as important to boost “the speed and effectiveness” of coronavirus contact tracing. However, Doug Leith and Stephen Farrell at Trinity College Dublin concluded it will be “challenging” to correctly record contacts because Bluetooth signal strength varies so much depending on which way phones are facing, whether a body is between two phones and how much nearby materials reflect and absorb signals.
The Ethics of Surveillance Technology during a Global Pandemic, 2 April 2020, Harvard Carr Center
Three experts on cyberlaw, security, and AI discuss how governments and businesses might ethically employ surveillance and AI technologies to address Covid-19. What are the rights implications of increased state surveillance during a pandemic? Are there tradeoffs between securing the right to health and limiting rights to privacy during such times? Disinformation during a pandemic can not only spread incorrect information, it can result in loss of lives. How can technology companies best combat disinformation spread through their platforms?
European Union’s Data-Based Policy Against the Pandemic, Explained, 30 April 2020
Benefitting from a mature and largely harmonized data protection legal framework, the European Union and its Member States are taking policymaking steps towards a pan-European approach to enlisting data and technology against the spread of COVID-19 and to support the gradual restarting of the economy. Here is an overview of key recent events essential to understand EU’s data-based approach against the pandemic.
Governments Shouldn’t Use “Centralized” Proximity Tracking Technology, 12 May 2020, EFF
Both centralized and decentralized models can claim to make a slew of privacy guarantees. But centralized models all rest on a dangerous assumption: that a “trusted” authority will have access to vast amounts of sensitive data and choose not to misuse it. As we’ve seen, time and again, that kind of trust doesn’t often survive a collision with reality. Carefully constructed decentralized models are much less likely to harm civil liberties.
Data Privacy Before and After a Pandemic, 11 May 2020
Marietje Schaake, former EU Parliament Member and international policy director of Stanford's Cyber Policy Center, argues that more regulation is necessary to curb unchecked use of consumer data. Taped just days before many US cities entered lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic, the interview also examines early uses of tracking and surveillance in Singapore and China, and what those actions foreshadow for the US as the nation balances freedom and security.
Coronavirus is forcing a trade-off between privacy and public health, 24 March 2020, MIT
Just a month ago the EU outlined its new AI and data governance strategy, which, among other things, advocated data sovereignty and called for European AI to be trained only on European data to ensure its quality and ethical sourcing. The guidelines were lauded for their leadership in protecting data privacy and facilitating trustworthy AI. But according to the Financial Times, the coronavirus pandemic is now forcing regulators to rethink them.
