Since the outbreak of COVID-19, governments around the world have implemented a range of digital tracking, physical surveillance and censorship measures in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. Some of these may well be proportionate, necessary and legitimate during these unprecedented times. However, others have been rushed through legislative bodies and implemented without adequate scrutiny.

...This tracker will document new initiatives being deployed that could threaten digital rights to help stem overreach, promote scrutiny, and ensure that intrusive measures don’t continue for any longer than absolutely necessary.

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Key Findings

In response to the outbreak of COVID-19:

Contact Tracing Apps are being used in 50 countries

Alternative digital tracking measures are active in 35 countries

Physical surveillance technologies are in use in 11 countries

COVID-19-related censorship has been imposed by 18 governments

Internet shutdowns continue in 3 countries despite the outbreak