Despite limited backing from civil society or public health experts, as well as warnings from historians and bioethicists, technologists are racing ahead to build and deploy digital certificates that would allegedly let individuals “prove” whether they have recovered from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), have tested positive for antibodies, or have received a vaccination, should one become available. https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/the-dangers-of-blockchain-enabled-immunity-passports-for-covid-19-5ff84cacb290
Category: Privacy
News Punch reports “Technical Advisor Resigns From ID2020 Alliance Expressing Concerns Over Their Mission”
Renieris, a Harvard lawyer, resigned from the organization due to a difference of opinion over the organization’s direction. She claims the organization is not transparent and is concerned that they would get involved in COVID-19 immunity passports. Renieris believes that immunity passports are premature and could potentially infringe privacy rights for tests that are unproven and that…
Lawfare Blog on “The Long History of Coercive Health Responses in American Law”
After examining more than a dozen varieties of preventive detention allowed by American law, we concluded that, despite the “civic myth” that preventive detention is disfavored and rare, it is neither prohibited nor “especially frowned upon in tradition or practice.” Surprisingly, American law allows quite a lot of it. One of the areas we examined…
IEEE reports on “Halting COVID-19: The Benefits and Risks of Digital Contact Tracing”
Digital contact tracing using mobile phones can help stop the spread of COVID-19, but could also put us all under surveillance As COVID-19 sweeps through the planet, a number of researchers have advocated the use of digital contact tracing to reduce the spread of the disease. The controversial technique can be effective, but can have disastrous consequences if not…