Juan Rio, who specialises in analytics at telecoms consultancy Delta Partners, says there will always be a trade-off between the common good and civil liberties in a time of crisis but questioned the efficacy of governments forcing citizens into using apps, as they may rebel and stop using their phones. “With the invasive way, you are affecting the experiment. You change the behaviour of people and you cannot trust the results,” he says.
supporting idea
Under pressure from privacy activists, the scientific community has created a body called the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing coalition in Switzerland, led by Germany’s Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, to create standards for apps being developed that adhere to European laws around privacy.
How to solve this problem
“Governments and regulators should find a proper balance between privacy and public interest,”
ways to solve this problem
Austrian data privacy activist Max Schrems warns citizens should be careful of the rights they are giving away at a time of global panic. “I am worried that we will accept state surveillance during the health crisis but that it will then take years in court to get rid of it.”However, he says there are apps that help citizens choose which data they share, leading to a more efficient tracking of the virus. “If people can decide themselves if they want to participate or not, then we have privacy-friendly alternatives. That’s a game changer.”
The bad influence to emphasize the opposite idea
Spain’s far-right Vox party has urged people to turn off their mobile data, reflecting the anger over government intrusion on their privacy.
a statement to support the idea
Still, assurances from officials and industry executives have done little to appease anxiety that privacy rights could be brushed aside as governments seek to use tools of mass surveillance in their efforts to combat the virus. The concerns about political use of data have been aggravated by the fact that the European Commission wants the telecoms companies to provide the actual aggregated data, not just access to insights from that information.
An example to support the idea that Big Data is widely used and caused people's concern.
We have seen how aggregated data can check the spread of disease in Africa. We’re now using the same insights to understand and combat the spread of Covid-19 in Europe,”
Example 2
Telefónica, Spain’s national carrier which owns networks across Latin America, has developed expertise working with companies like Facebook to use data to deal with natural disasters such as earthquakes. It also worked with Unicef and the University of Notre-Dame in 2017 to improve epidemiological models for predicting the spread of the Zika virus in Colombia.
An example shows that with the help of Big Data, the virus can be predicted
In Belgium, the data showed that long distance trips of more than 40km dropped 95 per cent after confinement measures were introduced. Belgians are spending 80 per cent of their time within their home postal area, with mobility down 54 per cent. The data can show if large numbers of people in cities have fled for their second homes, as was the case in France.
Because of the lock down, people are leaving.
The use of location data to track the disease has been applied in Italy, Spain, Norway and Belgium, with the UK, Portugal and Greece set to follow.In cities such as Madrid and Milan, telecoms operators have created heat maps that show how restrictions on movement are working and what effect the presence of police on the streets is having on behaviour.
Examples
“The use of technology should end as soon as the health of the people is guaranteed. We must be vigilant,” he says. “If you go to one extreme, you’ll have super high privacy but then you die and it becomes useless to have privacy. It’s a very delicate balance to reach.”
Mention that the balance of technology and privacy
“We trust Uber to know everywhere we go, we trust Gmail with everything we write. If we don’t trust the NHS with our health data then who do we trust?”
a strong example to show that data collection is common in our daily life.
Even the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which was adopted in 2018, has a clause allowing exceptions for cases that are in the public interest.
Example 3
China and Israel have also used personal telecoms data to trace coronavirus patients and their contacts.
Example 2
In South Korea, which is seen as a benchmark of how to control infectious diseases,
Example1
But the use of such data to track the virus has triggered fears of growing surveillance, including questions about how the data might be used once the crisis is over and whether such data sets are ever truly anonymous.
The bad influence of Big Data
Mapping how populations move between locations has proved invaluable in tracking and responding to epidemics.
It's the main idea of this article.
Working together with researchers at Southampton university, Vodafone began compiling sets of location data from mobile phones in the areas where cases of the disease had been recorded.
With the development of technology, researchers can work together.
began compiling sets of location data from mobile phones in the areas where cases of the disease had been recorded.
Big Data is all around us
Tracking coronavirus: big data and the challenge to privacy | Free to read
European demands for information from smartphones are raising fears over the reach of state surveillance © FT montage / AFP
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Nic Fildes in London and Javier Espinoza in Brussels April 8 2020 48 Print this page
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When the World Health Organization launched a 2007 initiative to eliminate malaria on Zanzibar, it turned to an unusual source to track the spread of the disease between the island and mainland Africa: mobile phones sold by Tanzania’s telecoms groups including Vodafone, the UK mobile operator.
Working together with researchers at Southampton university, Vodafone began compiling sets of location data from mobile phones in the areas where cases of the disease had been recorded.
Mapping how populations move between locations has proved invaluable in tracking and responding to epidemics. The Zanzibar project has been replicated by academics across the continent to monitor other deadly diseases, including Ebola in west Africa.
“Diseases don’t respect national borders,” says Andy Tatem, an epidemiologist at Southampton who has worked with Vodafone in Africa. “Understanding how diseases and pathogens flow through populations using mobile phone data is vital.” epa08227836 European Commission Vice-President in charge of 'Europe fit for the Digital Age', Margrethe Vestager (L) and European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Thierry Breton (R) give a press conference on a new strategy on Europe?s Digital Future at European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, 19 February 2020. EPA-EFE/OLIVIER HOSLET Thierry Breton, European commissioner for the internal market, has called on telecoms operators to hand over aggregated location data, but said 'in no way are we going to track individuals © Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE
With much of Europe at a standstill as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, politicians want the telecoms operators to provide similar data from smartphones. Thierry Breton, the former chief executive of France Telecom who is now the European commissioner for the internal market, has called on operators to hand over aggregated location data to track how the virus is spreading and to identify spots where help is most needed.
Both politicians and the industry insist that the data sets will be “anonymised”, meaning that customers’ individual identities will be scrubbed out. Mr Breton told the Financial Times: “In no way are we going to track individuals. That’s absolutely not the case. We are talking about fully anonymised, aggregated data to anticipate the development of the pandemic.”
But the use of such data to track the virus has triggered fears of growing surveillance, including questions about how the data might be used once the crisis is over and whether such data sets are ever truly anonymous. Health workers, some of whom have been disinfected, stand at the entrance of the isolation ward for Ebola suspected patients at Bundibugyo hospital December 11, 2007. Uganda has 113 suspected cases of a new strain of Ebola fever that has killed 29 people, officials said on Monday, vowing to take the necessary steps to stop the virus spreading. All cases so far have been in western Uganda's Bundibugyo district, bordering Democratic Republic of the Congo, except a doctor from the region who went to the capital after treating patients and died soon afterwards in a Kampala hospital. Picture taken December 11, 2007. REUTERS/Stringer (UGANDA) UGANDA OUT - GM1DWULIOYAA Mapping how populations move between locations has proved invaluable in tracking and responding to epidemics, including ebola in Uganda © Reuters
The debate over the use of location data sets could be a forerunner to a broader discussion about civil liberties and surveillance in Europe and the US as governments put in place plans to lift at least parts of the lockdowns.
The strategies for reopening an economy before a vaccine is developed could involve monitoring the contacts of newly infected people, which will raise questions about how much curtailment of privacy societies are prepared to take.
In South Korea, which is seen as a benchmark of how to control infectious diseases, the authorities can require telecoms companies to hand over the mobile phone data of people with confirmed infections to track their location. The data has enabled the rapid deployment of a notification system alerting Koreans to the movements of all potentially contagious people in their neighbourhoods or buildings.
China and Israel have also used personal telecoms data to trace coronavirus patients and their contacts. Governments around the world are creating apps to gather more personal data, such as who is sick and with whom they have been in contact.
Even the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which was adopted in 2018, has a clause allowing exceptions for cases that are in the public interest. Data discoveries Women wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus watch blooming cherry blossoms at a park in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 6, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) © Ahn Young-joon/AP 800,000-1m
Number of people that were found to be travelling in and out of Milan when Italy was supposed to be on its first week of lockdown. 80%
Proportion of time Belgians are spending within their home postal area after confinement measures were introduced. 99.98%
Percentage of individuals that one study found could be re-identified with 15 demographic characteristics, even when their data was anonymised.
Vittorio Colao, former Vodafone chief executive now at General Atlantic, says people should be willing to allow the use of “pseudo-anonymised” data by health services such as Britain’s National Health Service to respond to the pandemic. Originally from northern Italy, he says citizens understand the need to trust authorities to handle their data.
“It is not a question of spying on everyone forever but of saving lives for a time that demands temporary rules,” he says. “We trust Uber to know everywhere we go, we trust Gmail with everything we write. If we don’t trust the NHS with our health data then who do we trust?”
Vincent Keunen, founder of app developer Andaman7 in Belgium who works on ways to securely share health data, says citizens have legitimate concerns about vast amounts of data being used to track them individually. But he says it is a tricky balance to strike between using technology to help tackle health crises and safeguarding privacy.
“The use of technology should end as soon as the health of the people is guaranteed. We must be vigilant,” he says. “If you go to one extreme, you’ll have super high privacy but then you die and it becomes useless to have privacy. It’s a very delicate balance to reach.” epa04644225 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vodafone Vittorio Colao speaks during the first leaders' conference of the GSM Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 at the Fira Gran Via exhibition center in Barcelona, northeastern Spain, 02 March 2015. The MWC 2015 running from 02 to 05 March is the world's largest mobile event. EPA/ALBERTO ESTEVEZ Vittorio Colao of General Atlantic: 'We trust Uber to know everywhere we go, we trust Gmail with everything we write. If we don’t trust the NHS with our health data then who do we trust?' © Alberto Estevez/EPA
The use of location data to track the disease has been applied in Italy, Spain, Norway and Belgium, with the UK, Portugal and Greece set to follow.
In cities such as Madrid and Milan, telecoms operators have created heat maps that show how restrictions on movement are working and what effect the presence of police on the streets is having on behaviour.
Telecoms companies in Spain were able to show that the movement of people in one city dropped 90 per cent during the first week of the lockdown and a further 60 per cent of the remainder in the second week, while in Italy the lockdown was largely ignored for the first week, with between 800,000 and 1m people still travelling in and out of Milan.
In Belgium, the data showed that long distance trips of more than 40km dropped 95 per cent after confinement measures were introduced. Belgians are spending 80 per cent of their time within their home postal area, with mobility down 54 per cent. The data can show if large numbers of people in cities have fled for their second homes, as was the case in France.
The insights that telecoms companies can derive from these data sets build on their experience of working with epidemiologists to track infectious diseases in the developing world. Telenor, the Norwegian company, has participated in big data projects to predict the spread of dengue fever in Pakistan and malaria in Bangladesh. Kenth Engo-Monsen, a senior researcher at Telenor, says it was able to show that movement between Norwegian cities dropped 65 per cent after restrictions were applied. People confined in their homes applaud from their balconies in support of healthcare workers during the lockdown amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain, April 4, 2020. REUTERS/Juan Medina In cities such as Madrid, telecoms operators have created heat maps that show how restrictions on movement are working © Juan Medina/Reuters
“Knowledge about a population’s travel pattern is vital to understanding how an epidemic spreads throughout a country,” he says.
Telefónica, Spain’s national carrier which owns networks across Latin America, has developed expertise working with companies like Facebook to use data to deal with natural disasters such as earthquakes. It also worked with Unicef and the University of Notre-Dame in 2017 to improve epidemiological models for predicting the spread of the Zika virus in Colombia.
Prof Tatem cites coastal areas in Namibia as an example of where heat maps detailing migration into heavily infected areas can be used to prioritise other areas where bed nets and insecticides need to be deployed.
Vodafone has a researcher paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation embedded in its data team at the company’s London headquarters, to work on data sets providing insights to academics tracking a variety of diseases.
Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone, says the team offers invaluable insights. “We have seen how aggregated data can check the spread of disease in Africa. We’re now using the same insights to understand and combat the spread of Covid-19 in Europe,” he says.