Is Data Privacy The Price We Must Pay to Survive a Pandemic?

In the fight against COVID-19, billions of personal geo-location data points are being used by countries around the world to “flatten the curve” of contagion, in order to re-establish the circulation of people, and to better manage physical distancing among individuals . We are referring to the surveillance systems that several governments have begun using to track or trace individuals and their physical contacts (contact-tracing). Through these digital tools, governments seek to track the movement of infected individuals, identify those who might have been exposed to coronavirus, trace their physical contacts to alert and warn of future risks, monitor physical distancing orders, publish maps that identify risky areas and thus success- fully implement and enforce measures to contain the contagion. This use of technology  can  be  controversial  given  the  implications  it  has  regarding  privacy  risks and the decisions about it that some countries are taking. If we understand data as a public good (non-rival and non-exclusive) necessary to improve and accelerate response in the midst of a pandemic, is it possible, then, to justify the relaxation of  privacy  standards?  Does  the  goal  of  tracking  and  controlling  contagion  as  a measure to ensure everyone’s health and re-establish some social normalcy justify the possibility of intrusive government surveillance? And if so, are there conditions that can mitigate the privacy risks to which citizens are exposed?

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