17 April 2020, NIICE Commentary 4126
Kritika Roy
With the outbreak of COVID-19, which has infected more than 2 million people across the world, one of the major challenges has been to curb its spread. This has made countries to undertake unprecedented measures like facilitating work from home models, online governance meeting and the university lectures. The whole idea of doing so has been to flatten the curve, thus, reducing the excessive burden on healthcare services.
It has been equally important to trace the people with travel history who are susceptible to carry the infection around. To facilitate this phenomenon, several countries have undertaken various approaches including lockdown, rapid testing as well as the technological solutions that help to ensure quarantine compliance and to track infected as well as likely infected people and mapping the spread of the disease. Such technologies were already in use by various aggregators like social media giants, data vendors, mobile service providers and intelligence and law enforcement apparatus. However, the large scale deployment of these measures has brought forth the dilemma between safeguarding an individual’s privacy and enabling the state to undertake surveillance in the interest of health security. Many fear that these technologies would give authorities powers that they may be reluctant to give up once the outbreak is over.
Technological Solutions Deployed to Monitor COVID-19
With the rapid spread of COVID-19, governments across the world have put in place various technologies that can be used to counter and corral the virus through invasive systems to monitor human movement and ensure compliance. Besides the use of drones and CCTV cameras, three additional technological approaches have been put into practice for contact tracing and formulating a risk profile for myriad procedures. This includes (i) App-based geo-location data (ii) Bluetooth based proximity beacons and (iii) Telecom data of subscribers’ geo-location. Few countries have also been noting credit card transaction information for contact tracing. Many nations have also employed facial recognition and geolocation data to track down infected individuals.
China has undertaken intrusive surveillance measures by using the government-backed app that was launched in February. The app is registered using the person’s phone number which also collects names and national ID numbers. Even drones have been deployed to keep reminding people to wear masks and CCTVs have been installed at the doors of those under 14-day quarantine. Additionally, the country has also upgraded its facial recognition technology to identify people wearing a mask. The government has also been keeping a tab on other health related information like body temperature.
In Hong Kong, citizens have been instructed to use the government mandated app called “StayHomeSafe” and also wear a wrist band linked to the app. In Poland, citizens have been asked to prove compliance with isolation orders by using the government’s new Home Quarantine app wherein they have to upload ‘selfie’ on periodic requests. In Singapore, an app called “Trace Together” has been rolled out that uses Bluetooth signals to verify if any potential carriers have been in close contact with other people. Likewise, Taiwan has introduced an ‘electronic fence’ using cell phone data to enforce quarantines among people required to stay at home. Those under watch must leave their devices switched on and are often called unannounced by authorities to ensure they haven’t left their homes. In March, thousands and hundreds of Iranians were urged by the government citizens to download an app that claimed to determine if users and their families were infected by the coronavirus. Millions have signed up for the app giving the regime access to personal location data for swaths of the country. In South Korea, the government is also using credit card transaction records, smartphone location data and CCTV footage to chart out a map of confirmed cases that were tracked. Israel is using smartphones’ location data to enforce quarantine controls and monitor the movement to figure out who’s been where to track clusters of the virus. Arogya Setu app in India is being used to alert users if they have come in contact with an infected COVID-19 person.
In the US, one of the leading forecast lab is collating together individuals’ web-browsing behaviour and social media-activity to aid the government to speed up its testing capacity and determine appropriate interventions. Additionally, the government is considering using facial recognition and geolocation data to track COVID-19 patients or those suspected of having contracted the virus. In a recent report, it was noted that Facebook and Google are also collaborating with the federal government on data sharing tools. Even smaller organisations that apply machine learning are aiding the government to apply COVID-19 infection tracking apps like Clearview AI, pitching its facial recognition technology made from billions of photos scrape off different social media platforms.
Post Pandemic Phase: Smart Cities or Deeper Surveillance Cities
For a long time, governments across the world have talked about establishing smart cities to provide a conducive environment for living and the overall development of its citizens. Smart cities employ smart technology and data analysis to optimize operational efficiency, share information with the local populace and enhance both the quality of government services and citizen welfare. A major concern regarding the establishment of smart cities was the protection and privacy of an individual’s data.
In the wake of the pandemic, many of the technologies that were still in debate for full scale deployment has suddenly been inducted in the system to ensure compliance with safety measures and curb the spread of COVID-19. Thus, making countries lab rats in a large-scale social experiment wherein various technologies have been employed to monitor individuals round the clock.
Many apps that have been deployed were found not in line with the globally held privacy standards with regards to information collection, transparency, audibility, institutional divergence, data storage and purpose limitation. Furthermore, concerns about data privacy were also not resolved. As many apps require extensive Android app permissions and these permissions are typically ‘lumped together in larger categories’ and to enable certain functions, such as Bluetooth, a wider bracket of location permissions is required. Moreover, the use of phone location data and noting credit card histories may reveal intimate details that may go beyond basic information.
No doubt, advances in information and communication technologies have unique advantages and can play an important role in responding to major public health challenges. However, COVID-19 should not be exploited as the window of opportunity to create policies that cater to the needs of leadership.
Way Forward
A slew of technology is being deployed to monitor individuals’ movements. Different apps have been developed to map outbreaks and alert the public to avoid areas with large clusters of cases. Besides, citizens are willing to give up private data in the hope that the state would provide security. Hence, it becomes paramount that these apps should be curated in a consent-based manner that is relatively less intrusive and respect data protection laws. Furthermore, these programs should have an additional oversight body that can assess the type of data being collected, assembled and how are such data used. There has to be a proper process in place that ensures that the program remains “necessary and proportionate.” Understandably, contact tracing is an indispensable measure to curb the spread of COVID-19, but, there is a need to ensure that the tools that are being deployed for such purposes should remain compliant to basic human rights even during a pandemic.
It has been established that the world can no longer be defined only by economy and politics but also healthcare. The new protocols that are being established by the government across the borders may end up becoming a permanent fixture of life later. Thus, too much reliance on technology would always present ethical challenges around privacy, accountability, bias and transparency. Therefore, it is important to understand that health and privacy are not choices but rather a basic right for everyone. This can be facilitated by relying more on the cooperation of citizens, honest reporting, and more intensive testing rather than focussing on building a surveillance ecosystem. After all, no one can guarantee, that any government that has the tools of surveillance in place would not misuse it.
