I apologize in advance for writing about COVID-19, as I’m sure we are all relatively sick of reading and talking about it, but I came across a topic which is relevant to many of the themes we have been exploring in this class.

BBC has reported that South Korea, Singapore, and Israel have deployed apps that can help the authorities track who users have come into contact with, to help model the spread of COVID-19. Similarly, Taiwan has introduced an “electronic fence” system that alerts the police if a quarantined user leaves their home or switches off their cellphone for too long.

England and Europe have had a number of mobile network operators offer to provide anonymized data about users’ movements to help identify potential “hot zones” where the virus might be at most risk of spreading.

From my perspective, apps like this might be useful for social distancing, as I have often wondered what my risk of exposure is to COVID-19 within my own community of Kitsilano. However, the article cautions against being too receptive to apps and technology of this nature, as we may be “allowing our huge concern in the short-term about stopping the spread of the virus to blind us to the long-term danger of ushering in a surveillance state”. Indeed, many countries around the world have declared states of emergency, and rightly so. However, in general, declaring emergency measures grants government authorities emergency powers, and there is a concern that these emergency measures may be used nefariously in the long term to further erode our collective right to privacy, as “such measures have a nasty habit of becoming permanent”. One of the main concerns is that it is unclear how the data collected by these apps and technologies will be handled once the COVID-19 threat has subsided.

An open letter to England’s National Health Services (“NHS”), penned by a number of “responsible technologists”, calls on the NHS to make commitments to provide clear and regular updates on the use of such technology, to set up a panel involving patients and the public to check that privacy rights are upheld, and to publish clear terms and conditions for any new applications. These three suggestions may go a long way to upholding privacy rights, not only for this particular technology, but for all new technologies which affect our right to privacy. Such consultations, which involve both the public and technology providers, may result in greater protections for individual privacy while simultaneously allowing responsible parties to use new technology and personal data in a way that is beneficial and effective, but does not overstep certain boundaries. Consultations of this nature would be incredibly useful in the realm of facial recognition technology, which is a technology that has advanced very quickly in the last few years, with very few checks and balances put in place to prevent intrusions on privacy.

However, the writer of the letter to the NHS, Yuval Noah Harari, says that, “when people are given a choice between privacy and health, they will usually choose health”. It is likely that our individual right to privacy may be eroded in the short-term to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but it remains to be seen how emergency measures, such as using apps to track the spread of COVID-19, may affect privacy in the future.

This post is based on the following two articles: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52003984; https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51930681.

According to CBC, the RCMP is saying fraudsters are beginning to take advantage of current COVID situation. People are starting to receive phone calls from fraudsters who are posing as the Public Health Agency of Canada in order to get credit card information by telling people they have COVID-19 and require a prescription. On the trend of these scams, there are also growing numbers of coronavirus-themed phishing emails and malicious attachments. In one case reported to the RCMP, criminals even tried to sell a fake list of all the infected people in a neighbourhood.

While people are collectively attempting to stay at home and isolate themselves, it looks like people are taking more and more steps to engage online in order to get information and participate socially. The trend of cyber-fraud using COVID-19 is, of course something I expected, but it really is another disheartening issue to read about as we hear about rates of spread and death tolls. I hope that people can stay vigilant against these malicious online presences attempting to take control of fear and anxiety. Please watch out for disinformation regarding this situation by using only trusted news sources and make sure you monitor your online presence.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cse-disinformation-spoofing-1.5504619

In the midst of the social isolation that everyone is hopefully practicing, I wanted to share some thoughts to serve as a reminder to take care of one another.

As has been quite obvious, social networks have been serving their purpose in bearing a large burden as people attempt to combat the effects of social isolation, work from home, and check in with their loved ones. Thankfully, many internet providers, such as Telus, have waived home internet overages and roaming charges for customers trapped overseas. In addition to their already non-existent caps on overages, Shaw has opened up Shaw Go Wifi to everybody, not just Shaw customers. The good news is that internet providers and companies are recognizing the increased dependency on internet-based means of interaction in these difficult times.

Consequently, the question arises as to whether our internet infrastructure can really support this #WFH shift. Studies cited in the PCMag article suggests that America’s networks are currently under strain.

However, what the article points out and what I think is the larger issue at play is that the problem is poverty. An American census revealed that 35 percent of households with incomes under $20,000 in the urban county of Queens, New York, do not have internet. The most troubling part for me is the idea that those who cannot afford the internet are those who perhaps need it the most in order to combat the negative impacts of social isolation: at-risk youth and the elderly.

As I’ve been navigating the web of Allard student concerns regarding exams and classes over the past few days, I’ve noticed that this is prevalent in our own community – students live in buildings where the internet has continually crashed due to everyone working from home, while others lack stable wifi to begin with. Concerns relating to access, fairness, and poverty all have profound impacts on the wellness and livelihood of our neighbours, loved ones, and even classmates. With that being said, I hope everyone is able to remain compassionate and patient in these very uncertain times.

I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope we are all taking care of one another.

Information about overages:
https://www.telus.com/en/about/covid-19-updates
https://www.shaw.ca/covid-19

How social networks can do good while we’re all trapped indoors: https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/3/13/21176880/covid-19-quarantine-social-distancing-isolation-loneliness-zoom-fortnite

PCMag on the stability of US networks:
https://www.pcmag.com/news/covid-19-isnt-crashing-the-internet-yet

Emotional NYT article about how isolation has affected elders (which prompted me to call my own grandparents): https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/nyregion/coronavirus-elderly-nyc.html