Karosis has already shared personal details with Massachusetts health investigators. And if he was asked to comply with a disease-tracking phone app that monitored his whereabouts but didn’t publicly reveal his name and Cambridge street address, he said he’d do that, too.
“I’m sick and I’m under a quarantine -- hold me accountable for it,” the 27-year-old software salesman said. “You have the potential to kill other people.”
As countries around the world edge toward ending lockdowns and restarting their economies and societies, citizens are being more closely monitored, in nations rich and poor, authoritarian and free.
New systems to track who is infected and who isn’t, and where they’ve been, have been created or extended in China, South Korea, and Singapore. And a range of other surveillance systems – some utilizing GPS location data, some gathering medical data – have been debated or piloted in Israel, Germany, the U.K., Italy and elsewhere.
The challenge: achieving the tricky balance between limiting the spread of disease and allowing people freedom to move outside their homes.
Whether the prospect on the table is “immunity passports” or cellphone-based tracking apps, the aim is to protect public health. But experts say it’s also important to avoid a slippery-slope scenario where data collected to minimize the spread of disease is stored indefinitely, available without limits to law enforcement or susceptible to hackers.
This story is from the April 18, 2020 edition of Techlife News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 18, 2020 edition of Techlife News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Warren Buffett Has Left the Table. Homeless Charity Asks Investors to Bid on Meal With Software CEO
The California homeless charity that received $53 million over the years from investors who wanted a private lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett has found a new business executive to auction off a meal with.
A Congressman Wanted to Understand AI. So He Went Back to a College Classroom to Learn
Don Beyer's car dealerships were among the first in the U.S. to set up a website. As a representative, the Virginia Democrat leads a bipartisan group focused on promoting fusion energy. He reads books about geometry for fun.
INTERNET PROVIDERS MUST NOW BE MORE TRANSPARENT ABOUT FEES PRICING, FCC SAYS
Much like nutritional labels on food products, “broadband labels” for internet packages will soon tell you just what is going into the pricing of your service, thanks to new rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission this week.
CONTENT CREATION HOLDS APPEAL FOR LAID-OFF WORKERS SEEKING FLEXIBILITY
With a compact mirror in one hand and an eyelash curler in the other, Grace Xu told her roughly 300,000 TikTok followers she was likely about to be laid off.
IN ALEX GARLAND'S POTENT 'CIVIL WAR,' JOURNALISTS ARE AMERICA'S LAST HOPE
The United States is crumbling in Alex Garland’s sharp new film “ Civil War, “ a bellowing and haunting big screen experience.
MARGOT ROBBIE MAKING 'MONOPOLY' MOVIE AND BLUMHOUSE REVIVING 'BLAIR WITCH'
Margot Robbie has her sights on another toy. The “ Barbie “ producer and star is making a Monopoly movie, with Hasbro and Lionsgate behind it, the companies announced Wednesday at the CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas.
SOME STATES ARE SEEKING TO RESTRICT TIKTOK. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THEIR GOVERNORS AREN'T USING IT
POV: You’re on TikTok, and so is your governor — even as your Legislature considers banning the app from state-owned devices and networks.
HERE'S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT UBER AND LYFT'S PLANNED EXIT FROM MINNEAPOLIS IN MAY
The future of Uber and Lyft in Minneapolis has garnered concern and debate in recent weeks after the City Council voted last month to require that ride-hailing companies pay drivers a higher rate while they are within city limits.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SETS FIRST-EVER LIMITS ON SO-CALLED 'FOREVER CHEMICALS' IN DRINKING WATER
The Biden administration finalized strict limits on certain so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water that will require utilities to reduce them to the lowest level they can be reliably measured.
COURT UPHOLDS CALIFORNIA'S AUTHORITY TO SET NATION-LEADING VEHICLE EMISSION RULES
California can continue to set its own nationleading vehicle emissions standards, a federal court ruled this week — two years after the Biden administration restored the state’s authority to do so as part of its efforts to reverse Trump-era environmental rollbacks.