In Europe, Tech Battle Against Virus Clashes with Privacy Culture, 26 March 2020

Governments across Europe are turning to technology to track the spread of the coronavirus and monitor people under quarantine, an approach that seeks to learn from Asia but is also putting the region’s privacy rules to the test. From Helsinki to Madrid, applications are being developed for people to report their symptoms to doctors and researchers; to trace and model the spread of the flu-like virus; and ensure that those under quarantine stay at home. Yet progress has been patchy, there is scant coordination, and privacy advocates caution there is a trade-off between any benefits to public health and digital surveillance that the European Union’s privacy rulebook, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), seeks to prevent.