Virus apps expose tension between privacy and need for data

An EPFL staff displays the tracing application ‘SwissCovid’ on his mobile device on the second day of the pilot for the app based on Google and Apple protocols during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland. Many fear personal data gathered by governments or companies in the name of pandemic control will be abused for political or commercial gain, or outright oppression in authoritarian states. — Reuters

PARIS: As more governments turn to tracing apps in the fight against the coronavirus, a deep-rooted tension between the need for public health information and privacy rights has been thrust into the spotlight.

Track-and-trace technology is being touted as a silver bullet that will allow economies to reopen and people to emerge from home confinement, with health authorities keeping tabs on the virus's spread.