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positive COVID-19 test.10 At that point, contact data would be shared
with public health authorities, who would notify those judged to have
been in sufficient proximity to the infected person.
The ability of governments to find new purposes for shared
data—including purposes in which individuals might be made iden-
tifiable—was one reason why many privacy advocates pushed for
a decentralized model. The decentralized model gained traction in
the EU, although France has remained a notable standout. Germany
reluctantly adopted a decentralized model, but added a feature to
allow users to voluntarily contribute data for research purposes.11
The U.K. has opted for a centralized model.12 Both Australia13 and
the Canadian province of Alberta14 have chosen models that are ini-
tially decentralized but that give users diagnosed with COVID-19 the
option to upload their contact data to a centralized system to enable
contact tracing.
The centralization or decentralization of data storage can impact
the extent to which an app is integrated with public health efforts, as
well as the extent to which de-identified data regarding the move-
ments of the population can be used in modelling and other data
analytics.
AI-enabled Contact Tracing
Another type of contact-tracing app would use artificial intelligence
(AI) to supplement disease testing. In countries like Canada, where
there have been substantial challenges with testing—including
lack of testing equipment and slow lab results—even symptomatic
10. Leo Kelion, “Apple and Google Accelerate Coronavirus Contact Tracing Apps
Plan”, BBC News (24 April 2020), online: <www.bbc.com/news/technology-
52415593>.
11. Douglas Busvine & Andreas Rinke, “Germany Flips to Apple-Google Approach
on Smartphone Contact Tracing”, Reuters (26 April 2020), online: <www.reuters.
com/article/us-health-coronavirus-europe-tech/germany-flips-to-apple-google-
approach-on-smartphone-contact-tracing-idUSKCN22807J>.
12. Kieran McCarthy, “UK Finds Itself Almost Alone with Centralized Virus Contact-
Tracing App that Probably Won’t Work Well, Asks for Your Location, May Be
Illegal”, TheÂ
Register (5 May 2020), online: <www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/05/uk_
coronavirus_app/>.
13. “COVIDSafe App” (last modified 27 May 2020), online: Australian GovernmentÂ
Department of Health <www.health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/covidsafe-
app>.
14. “ABTraceTogether” (last visited 11 May 2020), online: Government of Alberta
<www.alberta.ca/ab-trace-together.aspx>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International