Privacy Risk and Preservation in Contact Tracing of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

A variety of types of information has been collected during the COVID-19 pandemic that can lead to privacy concerns. Depending on data type, the approaches and measures taken to mitigate privacy concerns can be different. The privacy issues incurred by collecting and sharing location and contact tracing data have their own importance. While contact tracing has proved useful in tracking and slowing down the spread of COVID-19 and plays an important role in fighting the pandemic, major newspapers such as the Washington Post and Forbes;the Reuters news agency;and government agencies have raised red flags about the high privacy risk associated with this process. The information collected during contact tracing often includes detailed and frequent location data that lead to inferences about the private social life and health status of individuals.