31 March 2020
A paper from the Centre for European Policy Studies looks at whether the right to privacy will be violated in the name of addressing the coronavirus pandemic.
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"As the COVID-19 outbreak rages across the world, governments have started observing the effectiveness of different approaches to ‘flatten the curve’ or contain the spread of the virus. So far, the most effective governments seem to be those that have invested in solid and even redundant healthcare infrastructure, engaged in mass testing, and identified and isolated infected people (and quarantined their contacts) to reduce the spread to healthy individuals.
European countries appear to suffer from a lack of medical and testing equipment, and to be reluctant to impose restrictions on individual rights, such as privacy and the free movement of people. Against this background, a dangerous debate has emerged on whether key tenets of European democracies, including the protection of the fundamental right to privacy, should be set aside during the pandemic to enable a more effective response."
CEPS In Brief: Will privacy be one of the victims of COVID-19? (link)
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