This Is Our Last Chance to Protect Our Privacy Amid the COVID-19 Crisis

[Gozie51]

But somethings we complain are allowed in the constitution especially in a democratic country except if it is a country that is not democratic. These are ways of social control since people have given authority to the government to rule over them. Tracking devices have been around for long so it is not new.

[jseverson]

Tracking the location of your mobile device isn't dangerous for anyone.Hacking everyone's mobile device and gathering access to all the information and applications inside is the real danger here(and I doubt that it might happen).
Countries with a long democratic history in the western world can't turn into dictatorships that easy.
High tech solutions and algorithms can help for some aspects of the pandemic,but they are not a panacea.
By the way,mobile device tracking isn't effective at all.I don't ware my mobile device all the time.
If I leave my device at home,nobody can track my real location.

I would argue that knowing your home along with your identity and traveling habits (which could still be determined even if you don't bring your phone all the time) could be quite dangerous. I would suggest you check out The Great Hack on Netflix; it demonstrates how seemingly irrelevant data could be weaponized. One more thing to consider is that while the data exists, it could be mishandled and/or stolen.

It's actually dangerous if not done transparently and properly. I believe this things should be decentralized, private/anonymous, safe and transparent. Everyone should be involved in supervising one another to prevent abuse.
There will be problems If this get into the wrong hands or if those incharge turn evil.

Anonymity would defeat the purpose of contact tracing, and while fair, I don't think it's a good idea for everyone to have the ability to track everyone else.

[kryptqnick]

"When governments seize emergency powers, they never give them up. Under the pretext of monitoring and tracking the spread of the disease, government mass surveillance via mobile phone tracking risks becoming normalized. Algorithmic bias now goes beyond academic studies as opaque algorithms can and will decide who can travel and work in places like China, and will no doubt soon decide who lives and who dies from the virus. Is this the world we want our children to inherit?"

https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-is-our-last-chance-to-protect-our-privacy-amid-the-covid-19-crisis

The pandemic made me rethink privacy issues as well. In my country, the measures are not that drastic yet (I mean people are advised to stay at home as much as possible but nobody tracks whether they actually do that), but it does have a negative impact on the spread of the disease as some people who are supposed to be on self-isolation because of being suspected or even having COVID-19 don't care and walk around freely. I am against human rights violations if it comes to censorship, abusing the usage of information that was taken from users under the pretense of protection or if violence is involved. However, if the data is truly used only to make sure that people who most definitely have to remain home don't do that, I now find it justified. Moreover, while a person can hold Bitcoin without any self-identification, one cannot really use it much without providing the ID one way or another.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I think the problem with people nowadays is that they are too paranoid about government authorities getting emergency powers even if it's approved by their Congress or allowed in their Constitution .

Yikes....that's not where the problem lies at all.  The problem is governments having way too much power, and technology is facilitating them spying on their citizens more than at any other time in history, and this all does frighten me. 

I don't dance around my house with no clothes on and the shades up so everyone can see.  I like my privacy even if I'm not doing anything wrong, and I hate that governments have so much power to monitor what people are doing--they're always going to come up with a reason why it's necessary, but we're all going to suffer the effects eventually.

Emergency powers.  You have to love it when you can just level up and do whatever the fuck you want with the snap of a finger.  You better believe they're not going to want to give that up once the emergency passes.

[pixie85]

They are using this situation to force people into submission.

I read about countries trying to get rid of cash, make people stay at home and fining them for going out, even if they're healthy, which is like curfew.

Some countries in Europe are also trying to give more power to their police so that they can jail you much easier, even if you're not doing anything wrong but going where they don't want you or if they suspect you might be sick.

[target]

They are using this situation to force people into submission.

I read about countries trying to get rid of cash, make people stay at home and fining them for going out, even if they're healthy, which is like curfew.

Some countries in Europe are also trying to give more power to their police so that they can jail you much easier, even if you're not doing anything wrong but going where they don't want you or if they suspect you might be sick.

I has to be done. There are just people who can't control themselves and walk out their doors and start playing basketball and betting and the likes. If they aren't going to be controlled, in few days these people are dead after spreading the corona to their kids. The goal is to stop corona virus from spreading, if they don't listen and sell the steetfood they cooked on the sidewalk the authorities might as well just shoot them before they can't infect others.

[pixie85]

They are using this situation to force people into submission.

I read about countries trying to get rid of cash, make people stay at home and fining them for going out, even if they're healthy, which is like curfew.

Some countries in Europe are also trying to give more power to their police so that they can jail you much easier, even if you're not doing anything wrong but going where they don't want you or if they suspect you might be sick.

I has to be done. There are just people who can't control themselves and walk out their doors and start playing basketball and betting and the likes. If they aren't going to be controlled, in few days these people are dead after spreading the corona to their kids. The goal is to stop corona virus from spreading, if they don't listen and sell the steetfood they cooked on the sidewalk the authorities might as well just shoot them before they can't infect others.

So you support the government giving itself more rights. Is there a limit to this? They already have the power to detain you, serch your house, seize your belongings, take over your bank account, fine you, you're already like a slave and still want them to be able to do more? I don't get it.

Next time a government will say there's a threat when there's realy no threat and force you to stay indoors thanks to all these new acts and agreements.

[CaVO32]

Tracking mobile phones in Korea worked to contain the virus though. They did it just when someone infected who was in the plane, they contact all those in the plane and let them isolate themselves. This is sort of a very effective to them. We might not like this survellance as we want privacy but this works in this kind of crisis.  

I value my privacy but this situation that we are currently facing is really alarming and the government needs to be on top of the game. Otherwise, many people will suffer and die. If you have nothing to hide, I guess you will agree with this kind of approach to tackle the situation efficiently and in faster way. If you are a good citizen, you will follow such protocol because it is for the benefit of the whole community. What Korea did is a systematic way to avoid wasted effort of finding those persons of interest. It will save tons of resources from the government's end.

[USBitcoinServices.Com]

Many people will wake up with this crisis, and at the end, centralized organisms will die, centralized controllers can't keep hurting people anymore, they already did a lot of damage in all different ways, It is time for the people to claim their privacy and power back! blockchain is one of those powerful tools in favor of humanity.

[camito]

"When governments seize emergency powers, they never give them up. Under the pretext of monitoring and tracking the spread of the disease, government mass surveillance via mobile phone tracking risks becoming normalized. Algorithmic bias now goes beyond academic studies as opaque algorithms can and will decide who can travel and work in places like China, and will no doubt soon decide who lives and who dies from the virus. Is this the world we want our children to inherit?"

https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-is-our-last-chance-to-protect-our-privacy-amid-the-covid-19-crisis

Let's admit it. Tracking have become a very helpful way of containing the virus because the government are able to easily find those people who had physical contact with each other as well as those who had contact with the same place of the infected person. I think that as soon as this crisis would end, the government would also stop this activity, because as we all know, people would want privacy as well as to protect their assests be it digitally or not. It will also backfire to them if there will be something like that.

[wxxyrqa]

"When governments seize emergency powers, they never give them up. Under the pretext of monitoring and tracking the spread of the disease, government mass surveillance via mobile phone tracking risks becoming normalized. Algorithmic bias now goes beyond academic studies as opaque algorithms can and will decide who can travel and work in places like China, and will no doubt soon decide who lives and who dies from the virus. Is this the world we want our children to inherit?"

https://cointelegraph.com/news/this-is-our-last-chance-to-protect-our-privacy-amid-the-covid-19-crisis

Let's admit it. Tracking have become a very helpful way of containing the virus because the government are able to easily find those people who had physical contact with each other as well as those who had contact with the same place of the infected person. I think that as soon as this crisis would end, the government would also stop this activity, because as we all know, people would want privacy as well as to protect their assests be it digitally or not. It will also backfire to them if there will be something like that.

It seems to me that today there are a lot of unfounded accusations or statements that should not be made at a particular time when there is a global problem due to coronavirus.  I completely agree with you that the actions that governments take are very effective in containing and fighting the virus.  besides, it is necessary first of all to think about, And who else, if not the government, will carry out this work.  in the face of existing problems, people themselves will not be able to organize themselves to overcome the coronavirus without state assistance.

[target]

They are using this situation to force people into submission.

I read about countries trying to get rid of cash, make people stay at home and fining them for going out, even if they're healthy, which is like curfew.

Some countries in Europe are also trying to give more power to their police so that they can jail you much easier, even if you're not doing anything wrong but going where they don't want you or if they suspect you might be sick.

I has to be done. There are just people who can't control themselves and walk out their doors and start playing basketball and betting and the likes. If they aren't going to be controlled, in few days these people are dead after spreading the corona to their kids. The goal is to stop corona virus from spreading, if they don't listen and sell the steetfood they cooked on the sidewalk the authorities might as well just shoot them before they can't infect others.

So you support the government giving itself more rights. Is there a limit to this? They already have the power to detain you, serch your house, seize your belongings, take over your bank account, fine you, you're already like a slave and still want them to be able to do more? I don't get it.

Next time a government will say there's a threat when there's realy no threat and force you to stay indoors thanks to all these new acts and agreements.

There is a limit to it of course. But we really can't guarantee they'd not cross that fence. There is no such thing about bank secrecy and not allowing them to search my house and detain me for whatever reason. They can always do whatever they want if they really will do it we've seen it happen before.

IF they say there is a threat and they are all bringing troops with them, I'd believe I'm gonna be in trouble if I get out or probably I will run away from them.

[FanatMonet]

Each person always has the opportunity to break their gadgets, throw away credit cards and get away from mass surveillance in the mountains / desert / under a different name of an inaccessible area, and live without using any means of such tracking. But as practice shows, for the most part, such fighters with the government are not able to do anything at all but write posts about surveillance on the Internet.

[jacafbiz]

I think the solution to this is new internet, we all know that Data is the new oil and there is no way we can prevent government from wanting to control every aspect of our lives. 'People need to start accepting this as a norm because we are the one that sold ourselves cheap. When you use Google, Facebook and all these services free of charge, forgetting that there is no free food anyway, you pay with you data

[Stedsm]

@OP, my answer would be definitely not. I'd never want my children to be spied upon be it today or later some time for any reasons but I guess the global Government unity has got enough strength and power to stop us from even getting out of our doors during this pandemic. I truly understand the reasons behind stopping us through a lockdown and having us literally locked down in our homes and it also gave all of us an opportunity to spend some time with our family, but how many of us can remain home (without working if our jobs used to include a lot of manpower, kinda physical work) and let our family stay away from hunger? Even if you get out to buy grocery, you still get punished with a stick struck on your ass badly so to make you understand that we are all almost slaves of these Authorized Bodies which can control us any time they want, any way they want. I'd die rather than living my life that way if that's going to be the future of mine.

[South Park]

this is nothing new though, if anything this only proved that our privacy didn't exactly exist before either. the infrastructure to track people using their mobile phones was already in place and they were already doing it. the only thing that changed was that they flipped the switch to turn it from small scale (monitoring many) to massive scale (monitoring everyone). and all governments have been doing it without exceptions...

Agreed, it can be argued they were already doing it and the only thing that is changing now is that they are publicly admitting they can do it and that they will do it in order to curb the current crisis, but as some people have stated the problem begins when this crisis ends because governments always look for ways to keep those emergency powers and refuse to take a step back, we will have to see if after this crisis history repeats itself but I have very little doubt that will be the case.

[FanatMonet]

Many people will wake up with this crisis, and at the end, centralized organisms will die, centralized controllers can't keep hurting people anymore, they already did a lot of damage in all different ways, It is time for the people to claim their privacy and power back! blockchain is one of those powerful tools in favor of humanity.

Such a scenario is possible only if the coronavirus plunges the whole world into anarchy and kills 95% of the population. And even if this is so, the rest will not last long without centralized health care either. Therefore, you always need to remember the consequences before dreaming about something.

[BitDiscussion]

As much as I am not the type that likes the government looking into my business and I like staying private in some ways, I still have to admit that this might be a good strategy to trace those that have these infections by knowing who they came across and things like that.

The world is in a very bad situation with this pandemic, just look at how we are all living now; we are all now staying doors and no longer living the kind of life that we were used to living before, no going outside because of fear. So, I will always be in support of whatever it takes to stop this virus from going further, it has destroyed the lives of many already.

[Subbir]

This is our last chance to guard our privacy within the COVID-19 crisis as there's no drug for the disease. that's why so as to stay our body healthy we'd like to take care of privacy and protect privacy Otherwise nobody are going to be shielded from the virus. the planet are going to be in additional crisis later.

[krach]

Swiss blockchain startup launches privacy testnet to resist NSA-level surveillance
https://cryptoslate.com/swiss-blockchain-startup-launches-privacy-testnet-to-resist-nsa-level-surveillance/