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Across the globe, surveillance systems are rapidly being put in place to fight the virus. Some could be the solution. Some use the global crisis as an excuse to do away with privacy and freedom. And let’s just say it: some might do both. Let's look at what's happening.
First, let’s discuss the systems that could work, and don’t seem intended to outlast the crisis.
Singapore’s contact-tracing system, TraceTogether, is the cutting edge. An app on your phone knows via bluetooth who you've been close to. Then, if anyone in that chain tests positive, other people are notified, and told to self-isolate.
650,000 people already use it, and now Singapore's system has been made open source, making it possible for other countries to build their own version. https://twitter.com/johnrobb/status/1243686008824246272?s=20
Germany plans to roll out their equivalent in a few weeks. https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/30/technology/30reuters-health-coronavirus-germany-tech.html
Last night @trvrb announced an ambitious new project, NextTrace, modeled on the Singapore idea, that combines ongoing testing with proximity and mutation data. https://twitter.com/trvrb/status/1245240645003833345?s=20
And last month my colleague @dylanbyers reported on a meeting between big tech companies and the White House, in which they began discussing the possibility of a vast, anonymized tracking system for getting ahead of the virus. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/u-s-wants-smartphone-location-data-fight-coronavirus-privacy-advocates-n1162821
If, like me, you’ve thought of there being only two paths forward — either leave our houses and lose millions of lives, or wait inside for herd immunity or a vaccine — these sorts of systems offer a third possibility.
What would it look like? Imagine the same regimen of masks and gloves and social distancing, but the opportunity to get the economy going again under close, data-driven supervision.
We’d be regularly tested, and our contacts would be tracked through a geolocation or bluetooth-proximity system. That data could give us the chance to be warned when we’re at risk, and perhaps given a green (well, yellow) light to go about our lives when we’re not.
But at the same time, in other countries surveillance systems are being put in place that might have a positive short-term effect, but could undo freedoms in their respective countries for a lot longer than this virus lasts. https://www.top10vpn.com/news/surveillance/covid-19-digital-rights-tracker/
Tomorrow, citizens of Moscow will be told to download a “Smart Control System" app that will track their movements. @swodinsky had a look inside it. https://twitter.com/swodinsky/status/1245459324299862022?s=20
On March 17th, Israel’s new government voted to use a counter-terrorism monitoring system on the population, giving the government the ability to follow citizens’ movements on their phones. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-to-use-cyber-tech-to-track-coronavirus-patients-1.8675008
Perhaps the most egregious version of this is Hungary, where on Monday parliament voted to give PM Viktor Orban unlimited powers, effectively ending democracy in the country. Presumably this is the end of GDPR protections for Hungarian citizens. https://hungarianspectrum.org/2020/03/21/translation-of-draft-law-on-protecting-against-the-coronavirus/
I’m describing all of this in one thread, but I'm trying to separate two categories. There are surveillance systems out there that could bring us out of this crisis. But there are surveillance systems that will outlast the virus, and endanger human rights in the process.
It’s time to sharpen our critical faculties and begin sorting out which surveillance systems can be entrusted with our location and health data so we can get this thing over with, and which are going to be a deep and long-term betrayal of the very people they ostensibly protect.
Iceland is an interesting sidebar to this: small enough to do physical contact-tracing without collecting comprehensive phone data, and also small enough to test everyone. https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1245577222141796356?s=21 https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1245577222141796356
It seems as if a new project comes out each day that tries to trace contacts without handing government or private companies a centralized server full of sensitive data. Here's the latest. https://twitter.com/mikarv/status/1246124667355660291?s=20
Meanwhile, Singapore's system doesn't seem to have headed off the latest uptick in cases. https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1246127025968033793?s=20
