Government surveillance in times of COVID

Government surveillance in times of COVID

During the COVID crisis, a lot has been said about the invasion of privacy and imposing lockdowns in many countries around the world. It is a real problem if the people who control Governments have the ability to check if their laws are enforced at a granular and individual level, so the concern is justified. It is important to separate practical and theoretical discussions. My basic framework is that if a technology exists and is useful, someone somewhere will definitely use it. So you should spend time thinking about what the consequences will be, and how you want to position yourself considering the new tech, as opposed to wondering about theoretical issues?? For instance, when the steam engine was invented, people had a lot of thoughts about this new tech. Some ignored it, some wished that it would disappear. Others took advantage of it. The same happened with electric lights, telephones, smartphones, E-mail, etc. The same has been happening with your data for the past 10+ years, including medical and spending patterns.

So the question is: how do we position ourselves to take advantage of this fact, and how do we avoid all becoming slaves to Governments worldwide? My take is that data transparency works both ways: Governments have a lot more data about their citizens than before. But the citizens also have a lot more data about their Governments than before. In democracies, it is our duty, as citizens, to look at this data and be informed about what our Governments do. If we do that effectively, and our Governments are therefore held accountable, this restricts their ability to use our own information against us. So everyone wins: Governments win because they are accountable for their actions, and citizens win because by checking how their data is used, they can assure it is not used against them in a nefarious way. And society progresses and improves. Once again, technology helps us in our daily lives - Safeguarding Personal Rights in the Age of Technology. Contact us here.