ABSTRACT
Recently, there have been many efforts to use mobile apps as an aid in contact tracing to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) (COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]) pandemic. However, although many apps aim to protect individual privacy, the very nature of contact tracing must reveal some otherwise protected personal information. Digital contact tracing has endemic privacy risks that cannot be removed by technological means, and which may require legal or economic solutions. In this brief communication, we discuss a few of these inherent privacy limitations of any decentralized automatic contact tracing system.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Contact Tracing/legislation & jurisprudence , Mobile Applications/legislation & jurisprudence , Privacy , COVID-19/epidemiology , Canada , Contact Tracing/ethics , Contact Tracing/methods , Humans , Mobile Applications/ethics , United StatesSubject(s)
Contact Tracing , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Coronavirus Infections/transmission , Government Regulation , Mobile Applications , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , Pneumonia, Viral/transmission , Betacoronavirus , COVID-19 , Community Participation , Contact Tracing/ethics , Contact Tracing/legislation & jurisprudence , Contact Tracing/methods , Coronavirus Infections/prevention & control , Health Policy , Humans , Mobile Applications/ethics , Mobile Applications/legislation & jurisprudence , Pandemics/prevention & control , Pneumonia, Viral/prevention & control , Privacy , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Smartphone apps to track SARS-CoV 2 infections need to fulfill certain minimal requirements to guarantee privacy and justify their use under data protection laws.