COVID, COVID, COVID. All the news these days seems to be about that little virus. If you like that kind of thing, then you’re in luck because we are here to talk about it today. More precisely, we’ll be talking about how governments are misusing the data they’ve been collecting due to the pandemic.
Back around a year ago as of this writing tech companies started to put out contact tracing apps that would allow whoever had access to it to let you know if you have been in proximity to someone with COVID. That way you could go get tested or isolate if you wanted to go that route instead. Sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? Thing is, it’s basically a tracking device that keeps tabs on where you are all day every day. They then can cross reference that data with your friends and family who are using that app and so determine who you talk to and what apps you use to do so. The government could even get a fairly good idea of the kind of things you are buying by determining which stores you walk into based on your location data.
The program was rolled out in Singapore and was held up by many as a model of how to respond not just in the case of COVID but for any future pandemic. However, that was before it was revealed that the government was very happy to use the data being gathered in ways that it wasn’t intended. This may have come as a surprise to some, after all, the government had promised that there would be ‘robust’ privacy protections in place. While many wisely doubted those promises and suspected or assumed that this was happening, it only became public knowledge in January when it came out that Singapore was using the contact tracing data in a murder investigation. Once again, a government promise was bunk and a program begun with good intentions was perverted from the original intent.
A natural response to this is ‘what’s the big deal?’ After all, do we not want murders solved using every tool possible? The problem isn’t really the use of the contact tracing data in the murder investigation, the issue is that this use is the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent. While the policy may currently be to only use the available data for serious crimes, how long before they use it for less serious crimes? Or for the ‘prevention’ of crimes? It’s easy to see how in the United States that kind of tracking data would get appropriated under the Patriot Act and used to arrest or harass people who haven’t actually done anything yet. Fears of exactly that sort of thing happening partially explains why contact tracing apps haven’t gained as much traction in America as they have in other places.
Hopefully it will stay that way. In Singapore, 78% of its citizens use the tracing app, which as we now know gives the government access to and control of their location data. That’s worrisome precisely because the government just takes it for granted that they can do this. Wouldn’t it be better if they at least had to ask?
How would that work? Very simple. If a crime were to occur and other evidence showed that you were at the scene or in contact with the criminal (security camera footage or witness testimony for example) the police could simply ask you for access to your phone because they think it would help. It really is pretty simple. Not only is it simple, it’s ethical because they are treating their citizens like individuals with rights and not subjects who must obey. It’s a big difference and one that TARTLE considers very important.
Abusing data in this way violates two of the big seven, human rights and government transparency. TARTLE will continue to work to improve this for as many people as much as we can. In doing so, we’ll never sell your data or so much as look at it. We are merely a tool for you to use, not the other way around.
What’s your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
