Data vs. Privacy

Which will win when trying to fight a Global Pandemic

By: Mai Weinshtock

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Most countries world-wide are trying to fight COVID-19, with the shared goal of flattening the curve of infections . Different countries have tried different things, ranging from indiscriminate lockdowns to enforced social distancing the closing of borders. Many of these methods may violate fundamental and civil rights.

The right for privacy is a key right that one of the most at risk, especially when governments track and monitor individuals in their effort to tamp down the virus. In South Korea for example, the government introduced a tracking app to monitor those in quarantine. When an individual takes their phone out of a permitted area a mobile alert is sent both to the individual and to the government.

In China they are using drones to monitor the population. The UAVs are able to scan crowds and spot feverish people. In Israel a cell-phone tracking tool, previously used by the government to fight terrorists, is now being employed to track individuals who are violating quarantine government orders, or to inform people if they have been in close proximity to a diagnosed patient .

Is this violation of privacy justified? Are the efforts necessity and proportional to the health needs? Should privacy simply be set aside during a pandemic? Will the need for data defeat the right for privacy? On the one hand, the 1966 International covenant on Civil and Political Rights provided that in times of public emergencies the need to protect public health exceeds the need to protect civil rights, including privacy . On the other hand, in the EU where there are many legal sources that protect the right for privacy, it is much harder to be sure that the need to fight a pandemic or public emergency ought to override the right for privacy.

As the battle against COVID-19 wages on, governments will need to assess whether their efforts are necessary, proportional or otherwise justified. However, it seems that if an efficiency in saving lives will not be proven, necessity will not be found. Also proportionality will not be found when there are privacy implementing alternatives. Perhaps there are no alternatives privacy-loving EU countries such as Italy, Germany and Poland have already followed in the footsteps of Israel and China in implementing disconcerting measures to fight COVID-19 .

Will data defeat privacy? It seems to be, that for now, data has won the battle. But the arising questions of the future will be the side effects, torts, and damages caused by this violation of privacy.