Contact tracing and privacy
If COVID-19 has improved one skill of the masses other than bread baking, it’s recognizing people without their face. From six feet away with masks covering most of their faces, people have now become recognizable by their mannerisms, clothing choices and occasionally (if you can hear them through their masks) their voices. Not being able to hug family members or friends, shake hands, or conduct meetings in person has become a nuisance to our daily lives. Humans are social creatures, but it has been almost three months since our definition of social interaction was flipped on its head. As we endure “pandemic-fatigue,” the nation, along with the rest of the world, is looking for a way to open up safely. We’ve flattened the curve, but how do we keep it that way? Many have their eyes on contact tracing apps.
According to Crystal Watson, a senior scholar with the John Hopkins Center for Health Security, contact tracing is “the best tool we have to manage [COVID-19] in an ongoing way and allow our economy to open up again.” Tech giants Apple and Google have partnered to make it easier for these apps to hit their respective app stores sooner rather than later. The plan is for the app to monitor our locations and interactions for 14 days. If we get tested for COVID-19 and the results are positive, the app will alert those who have come in contact with us and advise them to isolate as well. The noble goal behind these apps is unmistakable, but citizens still question, “What about privacy?” Many users fear their data will be leaked and feel uncomfortable with the idea of carrying around a smartphone all day with certain settings turned on to specifically track their locations and interactions.
Privacy software maker Jumbo discovered that Care19 was violating its own privacy policy by sharing citizen data location and other personal information with Foursquare, a data provider for marketers.
Contact tracing apps bring the constant battle between convenience and privacy to the forefront. If we look to North and South Dakota, we can get a better sense of just how complicated the tracking aspect of these apps can be. These two states released a contact tracing app, Care19, that was supposed to help with the reopening process. Both state officials and Apple were responsible for vetting the app before it was released for public use, but privacy software maker Jumbo discovered that Care19 was violating its own privacy policy by sharing citizen data location and other personal information with Foursquare, a data provider for marketers. While Foursquare alleges that the data was never used, companies could take advantage of future data.
To combat the very concerns that were exacerbated with Care19, Apple and Google are utilizing Bluetooth technology to ease security concerns. Bluetooth’s low-energy specification for broadcasting short bursts of data allows smartphones to emit a random string of characters, which we refer to as a key, that acts as an alias to other devices. The key is changed every 10 to 20 minutes to ensure that connecting data to a specific individual is nearly impossible for third parties. While the key is being shared with other devices, the smartphone records other incoming keys as well. This system allows an individual who tests positive for COVID-19 to anonymously alert those they have come in contact or interacted with.
Bluetooth’s low-energy specification for broadcasting short bursts of data allows smartphones to emit a random string of characters, which we refer to as a key, that acts as an alias to other devices.
Even with this updated system, many Americans are put off by installing apps that can monitor them and instruct them on how to live. A study of about 800 Americans conducted by Microsoft Research, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Zurich showed that eagerness to install these contact tracing apps was dependent on the app’s accuracy and ability to protect personal information. Specifically, Americans cared about how accurate the app was at detecting false positives. Researchers found that people didn’t want to be told they should isolate for 14 days if they weren’t seriously exposed and were only in the vicinity of an infected individual. Already uncomfortable with potential privacy loss, many Americans are not looking to give up that information in exchange for threats of unlikely infection. Beyond just accuracy issues, there are concerns that contact tracing apps, if adopted, will desensitize the general public to privacy violations and may lead to a new status quo — one where privacy is not a concern at all. Elected officials have tried to quell these fears through legislation, bringing forward the Public Health Emergency Privacy Act and COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act of 2020. The former looks to ensure that organizations save, use, and disclose necessary data while preventing discrimination based on the data collected. Similarly, the latter establishes that companies disclose how data will be collected and where it will be going. It requires organizations to allow individuals to opt out of collection, handling, and transfer of their data. Both pieces of legislation protect consumers by putting forward temporary regulations regarding the accumulation and propagation of emergency health data, but do little to quell privacy fears beyond the pandemic.
At the end of the day, contact tracing is inherently invasive. Regardless of the rules, regulations, and laws in place, people may not feel comfortable downloading an app onto their device that is simply meant to monitor them. This lack of support may some cause some issues with the efficiency of the concept itself. Researchers at the University of Oxford believe that approximately 60 percent of the population would need to faithfully use the app in order for it to be truly effective. In contrast, studies found that only 4.4 percent of North Dakota residents and two percent of South Dakota residents downloaded the Care19 app and gave the app location tracking permission.
Now more than ever, consumers are more and more aware of privacy concerns and how their data is being disseminated online. This makes contact tracing apps a harder sell to the general public. While it may be for the greater good, it is a cost that many may not be willing to pay.
Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/d41586–020–01514–2
Image source: Pixabay.
Originally published at https://nuscimagazine.com.
