Trudeau leaves door open to using smartphone data to track Canadians' compliance with pandemic rules

[icymist]

Source: CBC

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hasn't ruled out using smartphone data to track whether people are complying with public health officials' pleas for them to stay inside to curb the COVID-19 pandemic — a notion that raises some thorny ethical dilemmas regarding public health and privacy rights.

Tracking where the coronavirus will strike next, and convincing people to self-isolate and avoid gatherings, have proven challenging for public health officials around the world. That's prompted some governments to lean on mobile data to keep tabs on infections — even to predict where the virus is heading.

During his daily media briefing today, Trudeau was asked whether Canada would follow the example of those governments and use telecom data to track Canadians' compliance with pandemic measures.

"I think we recognize that in an emergency situation we need to take certain steps that wouldn't be taken in non-emergency situations, but as far as I know that is not a situation we're looking at right now," he said.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cellphone-tracking-trudeau-covid-1.5508236

[catsudon]

1. they do this in taiwan

and the fine is pretty heavy, up to 33k USD, depending on how long you were 'out and about' , and if you leave your phone, the fine is doubled. officials will check the household very frequently

but only if you're under quarantine, otherwise, we're not locked down yet here

[applegrove]

2. Yes it worked well in Taiwan. Now is not a time to whine about privacy. All

meassures should be taken to save lives.

[oldsoftie]

3. And here comes my burner phone.

Sorry, but you think that once they stat with this shit that it will stop when the crisis is over? Yeah.

[TomSlick]

4. You beat me to the punch.

I'd be buying a burner PDQ.