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275Privacy,
Ethics, and Contact-Tracing Apps
in automated systems.27 A similar problematic impact could then be
users relaxing their risk management approach, even shirking public
health messaging, because of this false sense of security.28
For contact-tracing apps with an AI dimension, even if uptake
is well under 60%, the app may be useful for analytics purposes or to
support AI research and development because of the personal data
collected. Even if the app allows, through consent agreements, for
transparency regarding the uses of personal data (for contact tracing
or analytics), questions linger about whether this is equitable and fair,
again in this context of widespread anxiety and vulnerability.
There are a host of justice-related questions raised by all types
of contact-tracing apps. Employers may refuse to allow employees to
return to work, or businesses may deny access to individuals who
cannot demonstrate that they are using the app. The dual use of
contact-
tracing apps as so-called “COVID passports” would under-
mine the voluntary and consent-based approach underpinning these
apps’ ethical uptake.29 This problem was flagged in the Australian
PIA, and it was recommended that the risk be dealt with as part of a
specific legislative framework for the app.30 It is also possible that not
all people will have access to contact-tracing apps given an existing
“digital divide” where not all individuals have cellphones, and some
cellphones may not be capable of running the app.31 There may also
be issues of accessibility in the use of the interface. Accessibility could
include access for the visually impaired, as well as access for those
without the necessary language skills to use the apps.32 Language bar-
riers may make text-heavy notifications (such as privacy policies, con-
sents, or information about the limitations of the app) inaccessible to
some users. There is a wealth of research showing that most people
27. Linda J Skitka, Kathleen Mosier & Mark D Burdick, “Accountability and
Automation Bias” (2000) 52:4 Intl J of Human-Computer Studies 701 at 701-17.
28. Jason Millar, “Five Ways a COVID-19 Contact-Tracing App Could Make
Things Worse” (15 April 2020), online: Policy Opinions <policyoptions.irpp.org/
magazines/april-2020/five-ways-a-covid-19-contact-tracing-app-could-make-
things-worse/>.
29. “Social, legal, and ethical issues of Test-trace-isolate-quarantine strategies”
(9 May 2020), online: Swiss National COVID-19 Science Task Force <ncs-tf.ch/de/
policy-briefs>.
30. See Australian Department of Health, supra note 13.
31. See Kelion, supra note 10.
32. See e.g. Tess Sheldon and Ravi Malhotra, “Not All In This Together: Disability
Rights and COVID-19”, in Flood et al, eds, Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
(Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press) [forthcoming in July 2020].
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International