As countries across the world enlist the help of technology to fight the coronavirus, a showdown is brewing between public health experts, government officials and privacy advocates.
Digital tracking apps work by notifying people about their possible exposure to coronavirus-positive patients, and advising them to self-quarantine.
Eager to restart the economy and end lockdowns, many countries are embracing the technology. Most apps use GPS or Bluetooth data to help identify and quell outbreak clusters.
But privacy advocates warn that this type of digital tracing is vulnerable to abuse, especially if an individual’s personal data falls into the wrong hands. The move could also usher in a new age of government surveillance that remains even after the pandemic abates.
Still, absent a vaccine, it’s likely that most nations will use some form of technology to track coronavirus outbreaks going forward.
In this episode we ask, do we have to sacrifice our privacy to fight the coronavirus?
Join the conversation:
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/AJStream
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AJStream
Subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe
#coronavirus
#ajstream
#aljazeeraenglish
#surveillance
#aljazeeraenglish
#ajstream
#coronavirus
