Your Data Privacy During a Pandemic

Picture a scenario where citizens willingly have their every move tracked via their smartphones; their every bank transaction monitored; and have themselves tracked from CCTV footage. Pretty Orwellian, right? Dubious tracking from smartphones and wearables by unscrupulous third parties is what we explored in our article on the dark side of health trackers. However, this scenario is a reality in countries from East to West around the globe. Several countries have implemented digital surveillance to track the spread of the novel coronavirus. Others are contemplating this solution, while many believe it will linger after lockdowns are lifted. Obviously, such drastic measures raise a whole new level of privacy issues. One can wonder what privacy means anymore and if there aren’t any alternatives to help track COVID-19 while preserving privacy. Join us as we intrude into the murky business of tracking in the age of the pandemic. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/ South Korea is already tracking their citizens A classic example is South Korea which received praise for its effective management of the pandemic with over ten thousand positive cases and less than 300 deaths. Part of its success is thanks to its aggressive contact tracing which involved tracking bank transactions, CCTV footage and phone use. The reasoning behind deploying such intrusive techniques is as a recent paper from the University of Oxford concluded. It reads that the “viral spread is too fas...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Health Sensors & Trackers Security & Privacy Telemedicine & Smartphones data privacy cybersecurity tracking coronavirus covid19 contact tracing Source Type: blogs