COVID19

Disclaimer We received a request from Augustina Baker (TechWarn) to publish on our blog the contribution titled “Sacrificing Your Privacy in the Fight Against Covid-19: What You Need To Know” written by Jack Warner (TechWarn). We host and publish the guest post from Jack Warner, as received, declining any responsibility for the content and for the opinions expressed by the Author. With cases of Covid-19 growing by the day, stakeholders in the healthcare sector are exploring a wide variety of technological solutions to stem the tide. Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook have expressed interest in working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus as well as misinformation. Digital health communities all over the world are working with their respective governments to roll out solutions that can help monitor the spread of Covid-19 and facilitate better treatment. Contact tracing apps are the most common form of digital solutions for Covid-19 tracking. According to WHO, contact tracing is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing people who have been exposed to a disease to stop further transmission. When systematically applied, contact tracing breaks the chains of transmission of an infectious disease. Contact tracing is, therefore, an essential public health tool for controlling infectious disease outbreaks. We’ve also seen digital solutions for coronavirus prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. ...

The content of this post is available in PDF for download here: 1. Chronology of events During the last month, i.e. since the focus has increased on the incidence of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to personal data protection, we have witnessed the publication of the following main measures issued by some institutional bodies: ...

The health emergency related to the #COVID19 pandemic is attracting particular attention in the privacy field, also about possible initiatives regarding the development of specific apps. Today, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) carried out an intervention entitled “EU Digital Solidarity: a call for a pan-European approach against the pandemic”. In particular, the EDPS intervention states The GDPR clearly states that the processing of personal data should be designed to serve mankind (it was the favourite quote from GDPR for my predecessor Giovanni Buttarelli). ...