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home / 世界杯决赛2022

officials face difficult ethical decision over covid-19 contact tracing apps

'if an opt-in system means you're not going to be able to achieve your objective ... are there other ways we can protect privacy while moving to an opt-out system?'

by the national post

jun 5 2020
read time 4 minute read
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by stuart thomson
the on-going public health battle against covid-19 has been straining canadian civil liberties in just about every way. now, as governments prepare apps that will trace the virus and people carrying it through location information on our phones, privacy experts are getting queasy.
contact tracing is the laborious process of tracking the path of a virus, identifying people who may have been exposed and encouraging them to get tested or self-isolate. many of the countries that have squelched an outbreak of covid-19 have done so with intense contact tracing and mandatory quarantines. a widely-used app would simplify the process.
but controversy swirls over whether such an app should be “opt in” — people voluntarily download it — or “opt out” — where the app would automatically be downloaded to a phone and people would have to delete it if they wanted.
with google and apple vying to be a big part of the contact tracing apps being devised worldwide, it could be possible to drop a contact tracing function onto the phone through the operating system’s periodic updates on iphones and android devices.
at an industry committee meeting last week, privacy commissioner daniel therrien said he wasn’t sold on any kind of mandatory or opt-out app.
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“consent has to be voluntary. therefore you have to promote people’s trust in the use of the app. people have to trust in an application,” said therrien, although he did note that if it was for the sole use of public health authorities, consent may not be legally required. therrien, along with his provincial counterparts, has issued a series of privacy guidelines, including a requirement that these apps self-destruct after the pandemic is over.
but toronto mp nathaniel erskine-smith, who has spent the last few years fighting tech giants like facebook, believes privacy is a secondary concern when it comes to the primary goal of saving lives and tracking the spread of the virus.
“we have been subject to pretty strict rules about limiting our interactions with other people and obviously businesses have been shut down and we’re slowly starting to reopen things. with a serious testing and tracing initiative, things open faster,” said erskine-smith, in an interview with the national post.
although some have touted mandatory contact tracing apps for canadians, erskine-smith isn’t ready to go that far. but it’s clear that any contact tracing app worth the effort would have to be used by a massive chunk of the population. instead of putting an app in the store and urging people to “opt in,” erskine-smith suggests the “opt out” method is better.
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“obviously opt-in is the ideal, but if an opt-in system means you’re not going to be able to achieve your objective in the first place, are there other ways we can protect privacy while moving to an opt-out system? i’ve spoken to a number of experts who suggest that is the case,” said erskine-smith.
erskine-smith pointed out that the privacy commissioner has made exceptions due to the extraordinary circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic. for example, although therrien has urged the use of anonymous or aggregate personal data, he made an explicit exception in the event that more data is needed for a public health purpose. a similar exemption could be carved out for a contact tracing app if its deemed ineffective otherwise.
the problems facing canada’s contact tracing efforts are jurisdictional and political, as well as ethical.
health minister patty hajdu admitted this week that the provinces were pushing back on the idea of a single contact tracing app for the whole country. alberta has already released its own app and hajdu said some provinces preferred to do it “the old-fashioned way,” which involves legions of volunteers making phone calls to people who have tested positive for covid-19.

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a recent study out of the united kingdom argued that for an app to be useful it must be used by between 60 and 80 per cent of the population.
“eighty per cent of people in the u.k. have a phone. and so if you have to get to 80 per cent, it’s very, very, very difficult,” said eric johnson, a partner at ibm global business services, who testified at a may 21 industry committee meeting. “as long as people are comfortable that they’re not being tracked and they’re data is safe, there’s hope. but it’s a tough road.”
part of the struggle may come from growing skepticism about the industry. the pandemic comes in the wake of facebook’s cambridge analytica scandal, which made global headlines, and other privacy breaches. public polling shows that people have lost trust in big tech companies.
only 54 per cent of people said they would likely be willing to download a contact tracing app, according to a poll conducted by expressvpn, which markets privacy and security tools. more than three-quarters of people said they expected to be at an increased risk of mass surveillance due to the proliferation of contact tracing apps and 88 per cent of people were worried that their information would end up in the hands of third parties after the pandemic way.

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• email: sxthomson@postmedia.com | twitter:

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