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Article

19 May 2020

Author:
Eric Null & Jennifer Brody, Brink (US)

Access Now raises privacy concerns about use of contact tracing apps & shares lessons learned

"Are Contact-Tracing Apps the Answer? Lessons the US Can Learn From Other Countries," 11 May 2020

The most promising and talked-about “solution” to the spread of COVID-19 is digital contact tracing... At least eight EU telecoms (including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, and Orange) are sharing anonymized geolocation data with the European Commission... Governments should impose strict data protection requirements like purpose and use limitations (including no public shaming), access limitations and retention policies...While we must address the pandemic, we should also consider the long-term consequences of building entrenched systems of surveillance that will be difficult to roll back after the crisis.

...Google and Apple are working on contact-tracing software with government and public health authorities in mind. While they have put a lot of thought into the privacy protections of the app, including that location tracking in the tool will be banned, there is still reason for concern. [For more information on this software, see here.]