The administration is going to use a new tool to stop the coronavirus. The plan is to launch two apps to map infections and possible spread of COVID-19. Although many details are as yet unknown, some people are already concerned about our privacy.
Every day, the news is about almost only one topic: the coronavirus. The National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) provides daily updates on the number of new infections and deaths due to the virus. And although COVID-19 is still causing casualties, the cabinet and RIVM are cautiously positive about the latest developments. But for now, Prime Minister Mark Rutte wants to know nothing about softening the measures already taken. As he put it at Tuesday night's press conference, the return to normalcy is "a matter of long breath."
In addition to Rutte, Health, Welfare and Sport Minister Hugo de Jonge also gave an appearance. He used the podium to unveil his plans to fight the coronavirus. De Jonge wants to use technological tools for this purpose. He is considering launching two apps. The first app will tell you if you have been near someone infected with the coronavirus. If that is the case, the second app comes around the corner: with it, you contact a nearby doctor and report any symptoms.
"A more intensive testing policy also includes more intensive contact research. We see that technology can be helpful in this," Minister De Jonge said at the press conference. When asked if the cabinet has specific apps in mind or is having them developed, he had to withhold an answer. The minister said he intends to use the coming weeks to "explore the possibilities."
The Netherlands is not the only country considering launching such apps. Similar apps are currently in development in the United Kingdom and Germany. The Chinese government is using facial recognition technology to urge people to stay home. In countries such as Singapore, South Korea and Israel, apps using contact-tracing are already operating. The apps exploit a cell phone's bluetooth functionality to track infected people. It is possible that Minister De Jonge wants to implement the same technology in our country as well, but he could not provide certainty about this during the press briefing.
The UN recently warned that the fight against the coronavirus could have major implications for our privacy. The intention to use bluetooth technology to prevent the advance of COVID-19, with good reason, antagonizes many privacy advocates. They believe that a contact-tracing app is an outright invasion of our privacy. In addition, they have many practical questions: where will this data be stored? How long will it be stored? How well is it secured? Who has access to this information?
During the press conference, several journalists asked Minister De Jonge these and other questions. When asked who may see the location data and other data that the first app stores, the minister replied, "In principle, of course, none. That is precisely what you don't want. You don't want others to have access to your medical data unless it's about that second app I mention, unless it's about medical data that you yourself have instructed that a hospital can look into it."
De Jonge stated that it is necessary for many citizens to use the app. When asked if the minister wants to force citizens to install the app, he did not have a clear answer. "Whether it is necessary to make it mandatory is something to explore in the coming time. I would think it's too early to answer that now. What is necessary if you are going to have that whole intensive testing policy and if you also want to use that to possibly be even more precise in what measures you take, then you will have to make sure that very, very many people are going to use that."
What De Jonge says there should be no misunderstanding about is that there is sufficient support. "I immediately add that this is only possible if we handle privacy very carefully. This is only possible with trust from society and that requires careful further elaboration," the minister said. Prime Minister Rutte also stressed the importance of not treating citizens' privacy carelessly.
"One of the things we look at is should you mandate it for everybody or should a lot of people do it. Are you going to mandate it or is it something that you do based on a lot of people do it and with that that's enough. We're going to map all that out now in the study that's going to take place. But we're keeping the option open because we simply don't have the luxury at this time of closing options. But with any option that we then look at, it's crucial that you observe privacy."
Privacy and security journalist Brenno de Winter called the minister's intention on Twitter a "privacy and security nightmare." There are currently several parties working, they say, on a privacy-friendly app to track citizens infected with corona. In late March, Germany's Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) announced it was working on such a smartphone app. A group of 130 researchers from the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) is also working on an app to track corona-infected people. This also works with bluetooth.
This news item can also be found in the files Coronavirus and Big Data
