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March 22, 2020 11:57 pm

What Happens When Tech Companies Offer to Fight Coronavirus With Digital Surveillance?

"White House officials are asking tech companies for more insight into our social networks and travel patterns," reports Wired, noting that Facebook even "created a disease mapping tool that tracks the spread of disease by aggregating user travel patterns."And Clearview AI "says it is in talks with public officials to use its software to identify anyone in contact with people who are infected."Such efforts clash with people's expectations of privacy. Now, there's a compelling reason to collect and share the data; surveillance may save lives. But it will be difficult to draw boundaries around what data is collected, who gets to use it, and how long the collection will continue... "What's really important is for the government to be really clear in articulating what specific public health goals it's seeking to accomplish," said Kelsey Finch, senior counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum, an industry-backed group focused on tech policy. "And how it's limiting the collection of personal data to what's necessary to achieve those very specific goals, and then making sure that there are appropriate privacy safeguards put in place before data starts to change hands...." Some privacy scholars question whether enhanced surveillance in the name of fighting disease can be dialed back once the danger has passed. "I'm not sure that we should be making longer-term judgments, in an emergency situation, about what the right balance is right now," said Jennifer Daskal, faculty director of the Tech, Law, and Security program at American University and a former national security official in the Department of Justice. "That often doesn't work out so well." Pointing back to 9/11, when Congress granted immense surveillance powers to the federal government, Daskal said decisions made during emergency situations tend to lead to overreach... The rapid spread of the disease has prompted even some traditional defenders of personal privacy to acknowledge the potential benefits of digital tracking. "Public policy must reflect a balance between collective good and civil liberties in order to protect the health and safety of our society from communicable disease outbreaks," the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote in a blog post earlier this month. But, the group continued, any data collection "must be scientifically justified and â¦ proportionate to the need."

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