Author: Michelle Seng Ah Lee
Publisher: Trust & Technology Initiative
Publication Year: N/A
Summary: The following article talks about using data to overcome challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and lessons learned in using data ethically. South Korea successfully curbed the growth in COVID-19 infections not by enforcing lockdowns, but by “rapidly scaling up its testing capabilities and effectively leveraging data to identify and isolate those infected.” Hong Kong and Taiwan implemented electronic bracelets and phone location tracking respectively to enforce quarantine and track the movement of people. There are ethical and privacy concerns with these individual-level tracking methods. Anonymization and aggregation of data may instead be more acceptable. However, ethical concerns still remain, and a wealth of information can still be revealed about groups of people, especially when combined with other data sets. Governments should ensure that legal safeguards are in place and there is accountability for any ethical considerations and risks using data during lockdown and beyond.