Big Brother Knows that you are infected: wearable devices to track potential COVID-19 infections
Vera Lúcia Raposo · Law Innovation and Technology · 2021
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has been widely deployed to deter the spread of the virus. One such technology is wearable devices that can collect health data and inform health authorities about potential infections. Despite the laudable purposes of this technology, we might be on the verge of another digital Big Brother. This is not a case in which our moves are being watched, but our bodies are, in an extreme form of public health surveillance. This paper analyses the use of wearable devices to track potential COVID-19 infections within the framework of public health and related individual and state duties. The paper focuses on the threats that these devices may pose to individual rights and liberties, particularly self-determination (the freedom to not be tested for infectious diseases) and privacy (the protection of private data).