Hi-tech Covid-19 tracing tools threaten personal digital rights

A range of technologies designed to combat the spread of Covid-19 is being deployed across Europe, from tracking apps to infrared cameras, posing a threat to individual digital rights and privacy, a report warned on Tuesday.

“Securing public health can and must be compatible with democratic checks and balances,” said Fabio Chiusi, project manager with AlgorithmWatch, in a statement. “[But this] may be used to justify the uncritical adoption of tools and policies that risk undermining human rights.” Thermal imaging technology designed to detect fevers is also prone to error, yet such scanners are rapidly being put to use in European supermarkets, stadiums and museums, said the report by AlgorithmWatch and Bertelsman.

Some European governments are not heeding recommendations by the World Health Organisation that coronavirus-tracking technology be voluntary, it said. In Poland, for example, citizens are forced to download a government app that uses geo-location and facial recognition to enforce quarantine orders.

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