As governments are working to build smartphone tracing applications to help control infections, the concern is being centered on how authorities can safeguard the privacy of users. The discussion is especially acute in Europe, which was one of the world’s worst-hit countries, with nearly 140,000 registered coronavirus fatalities at the time of writing.
In recent years, the European Union has taken the lead in securing the data privacy of individuals internationally, enforcing stringent regulations on tech companies and websites that gather personal information. Academic and civil rights advocates are already calling for better security of personal data in the new apps.
Under pressure to relax the lockout constraints that have been in effect for months in certain countries, European authorities want to ensure that coronavirus infections will not rise once the lockdowns have stopped. One approach is to monitor who the infected people come into contact with and then inform them so that they can isolate themselves. Yet there are growing fears that new tech tracking tools are a gateway to expanded surveillance.
The European battle has focused on rival Bluetooth apps. One German-led initiative, Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing, or PEPP-PT that obtained early endorsements from 130 experts, involves data submitted to a central server. Some researchers, however, grew more worried about the dangers of the project.
Privacy supporters favor a decentralized system, so only devices are holding anonymous data. Some governments also favor the centralized model as it could offer more evidence to help decision-making.
Apple and Google raised concerns by backing the decentralized approach as they unveiled a joint effort to develop virus-fighting digital tools. The tech companies are launching a mobile framework so that public health departments can combine their applications with operating systems for iPhone and IOS, and plan to release their own apps soon.
The Panthera Post 