Contact tracing apps: an ethical roadmap
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Contact tracing apps: an ethical roadmap Marjolein Lanzing1
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This research statement presents a roadmap for the ethical evaluation of contact tracing apps. Assuming the possible development of an effective and secure contact tracing app, this roadmap explores three ethical concerns—privacy, data monopolists and coercion- based on three scenarios. The first scenario envisions and critically evaluates an app that is built on the conceptualization of privacy as anonymity and a mere individual right rather than a social value. The second scenario sketches and critically discusses an app that adequately addresses privacy concerns but is facilitated by data monopolists such as Google and Apple. The final scenario discusses the coerced installation and use of a privacy-friendly, independently developed contact tracing app. The main worry is coercion through societal exclusion and limited societal participation. The statement concludes with three suggestions for designing an ethical contact tracing app and a research agenda. Keywords Contact tracing apps · Privacy · Data monopolists · Coercion · Solidarity
Roadmapping beyond privacy: two approaches for mapping ethical considerations involving contact tracing apps As many countries across the globe are struggling with the Covid-19 virus, a discussion is taking place about the possible use of (a wide variety of) contact tracing apps. The goal is to gain insight in the spread of the corona-virus which, in many cases, requires location data and biometric information. Most concerns about these apps in the discussion focus on privacy as an individual right to control over one’s information (Davidson 2020; Hao 2020; Timberg and Harwell 2020; Wetsman 2020). However, we believe that this discussion should be broadened to include other ethical considerations and a richer understanding of privacy as a public value. Lanzing and Siffels present two research statements that contribute to the discussion by offering considerations ‘beyond privacy’ when evaluating the development and implementation of contact tracing apps. The first,
‘Contact tracing apps: an ethical roadmap’, presents a roadmap for the ethical evaluation of contact-tracing apps. It raises three ethical concerns—privacy, Big Tech dependency and coercion-by exploring three scenarios (Lanzing 2020, this issue). The second, ‘Beyond Privacy vs. Health: a justification analysis of contact-tracing apps debate in the Netherlands’, shows how a justification analysis of the debate about contact tracing apps, using the framework developed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thevenot, can enable us to recognize a plurality of common goods at stake (Siffels 2020, this issue). Both statements are part of the ‘Digital Good’ project, an interdisciplinary research project that focuses on the disruption of health as we move into the digital era. The project investigates ways of approaching the digitalization of health from a standpoint of the common good, rather than one of individual privacy. Its
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