As the coronavirus continues to spread, governments around the world are stepping up efforts to prevent further infections. Certain governments have begun tracking individuals’ cell phone data to monitor their movement and activities and fight the spread of the virus. The governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, and others have all implemented policy to track personal cell phone data to monitor who people are coming into contact with. These governments have defended the policy by saying they are monitoring compliance with shutdown orders and to identify hotspots of activity where people are congregating and where the virus could easily spread. Some countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom, are using anonymous geolocation data that does not divulge personal information about the person being tracked. However, China and Israel are using more intrusive actions to obtain individuals’ personal information such as text messages and contact lists.
As technology grows increasingly prevalent in society, governments have been forced to try and find a balance between respecting people’s personal privacy and requisitioning data for official government use. Many countries use personal location data for national security reasons, which gives the government legal justification to secure information. During the outbreak of the coronavirus, countries have used data in ways ranging from anonymous movement tracking to tracking specific individuals who have been diagnosed with the virus.
The implementation of government surveillance has raised alarm from government watchdogs. In the United Kingdom, privacy campaigners have demanded judicial oversight on any surveillance programs, and the insertion of sunset clauses so the surveillance is curtailed when the coronavirus is no longer a severe threat. In the United States, a letter written by Peter Eckersley, an artificial intelligence researcher, argued that there was no need to sacrifice privacy and consent in order to combat the spread of the virus. To address concerns over consent, nations such as Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea have offered a voluntary data-sharing program, where mobile applications require a user’s permission before sending information to the authorities. These programs have proven to be hugely successful in mitigating the spread of the virus.
Whereas some countries have found success in voluntary programs, Israel and China have tried a different strategy. In Israel, the government has begun using the same technology it uses to track terrorist activities to monitor the spread of the coronavirus. The location data collected by the Israeli government is used to trace the movement of suspected terrorists normally but has been requisitioned to be used to monitor the activities of regular Israelis. In late March, the Israeli Supreme Court issued an injunction against this practice and mandated that the government only use the tracking data to monitor individuals who have tested positive for the virus. China has enacted a similarly invasive program, in which citizens are “color-coded” based on their health. China’s government has mandated citizens download software onto their smartphone in which they provide personal and medical information which indicates whether they should be allowed in public, or if they should be in quarantine. Whenever an individual enters a public space such as a mall, subway station, or elsewhere, they scan the downloaded software, which provides a color code for the individual. Green means the person is symptom free and allowed in public, yellow means the person had been in contact with an infected individual and should be in quarantine, and red means they had displayed symptoms of the coronavirus and was awaiting a diagnosis. An analysis by the New York Times found that the software was coded to provide information in real time to local police, meaning anybody who was out and shouldn’t be, could be arrested immediately. Even in China, where government surveillance is common, this is a drastic measure.
In the United States, the Trump Administration has been in secret negotiations with major tech companies such as Google and Facebook over using aggregated and anonymized location data to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to the administration urging them to collect the data legally and in accordance with privacy laws. The administration’s ambition to keep the collection of data secret is telling, and points to an understanding that it would not be a popular policy. However, as the virus continues to spread, it may be a policy that the Trump Administration deems necessary for the greater good. Should this happen, and if individuals want to keep their data private, they can simply turn off the location history setting on their smartphone which would prevent any location data from being transmitted.
Moving forward, as the coronavirus subsides, it will be critical to monitor government action to ensure that surveillance policies are not continuing. Due to the secrecy surrounding governments’ negotiations with tech companies, it is not clear whether sunset clauses have been included in surveillance agreements. Government watchdogs and independent organizations will have an important role in ensuring that governments are not overstepping their bounds when the coronavirus eventually recedes.
Enter the text or HTML code here
