Resolving the tension between stopping the coronavirus and safeguarding legal freedoms

MITLA publishes a guidance document as a reaction to technological initiatives aimed at dealing with various facets of the COVID-19 pandemic including tools aimed at modelling infection trajectory, socio-economic impact assessments, monitoring of physical distancing and aids in contact tracing exercises. MITLA notes that such technologies may involve new methods of surveillance which can lead to impacts on societal values such as privacy and human agency. This document serves as an identification of the privacy issues inherent in such proposed methods and can be used as a reference guide by stakeholders involved in the creation and dissemination of such tools, preferably at a design stage.

The document is available here.

The driving force behind MITLA is to assist local technological empowerment through technology-neutral legal frameworks by providing a specialized forum where legal developments within the ICT sector can be studied, discussed and championed. You can reach MITLA by sending an email to: info@mitla.org.mt with your thoughts and questions.