The following is a project created by Natalia Molina Ballester for the course, Media, Culture, and Global Politics, taught by faculty member Nina Khrushcheva.

 

Countries such as China, South Korea and Singapore are using technology through mobile apps that track the movement of people. This is done to alert citizens if they are in high, medium or low risk of contracting the Coronavirus. In other parts of the world like in the countries of the European Union, the United State and Israel, governments are asking telecommunication companies to track population movements to monitor what areas are more likely to experience a higher contagion rate.

 

Although these technologies contribute to the prevention and spread of the virus, they raise questions in regards to privacy rights. There is a danger that the governments may use citizen data even once the pandemic is over. This could be particularly problematic in authoritarian regimes as leaders may employ state of emergency to gain more power and modify laws that could endanger civil liberties.

 

This presentation looks at how different countries are currently monitoring people and the repercussions this might have in the future. Past situations of crisis like September 11, 2001 allowed for the Patriot Act to create new laws and regulations that facilitated the breach of privacy rights in the United States.

 

The use of surveillance to fight coronavirus in many parts of the world may be necessary now as it helps to save lives but it can have dire consequences for privacy, individual rights and democracy in the future.

 

Click below for the full presentation: