Is it worth sacrificing privacy to stop coronavirus?

The coronavirus pandemic has led governments around the world to employ every possible resource to stem the spread of the virus. Those efforts can only go so far, however, before they come up against limitations.

One of the barriers is privacy. Some experts see opportunities to use technology to track and potentially control the outbreak, but doing so could mean breaking existing legal and social privacy restrictions.

One of the most effective tools could be location data from phones. The simplest proposed application is to use anonymous data to monitor the effectiveness of social distancing to see whether people are following protocols and identify which areas can be safely reopened. A more intensive idea is to track the recent movements of someone who has tested positive for the virus and alert anyone who came into contact with them that they may be at elevated risk. The U.S. government reportedly met with major tech companies about gaining access to their data. Some private firms are making their data public to help track the virus.

Some countries that have been most successful in curbing outbreaks — including South Korea and Singapore — have used aggressive technological surveillance to track and isolate infected people. China’s authoritarian regime used mandatory wristbands to monitor people under quarantine and required workers to download an app that tracked their health risk. Democracies like Israel and Italy have expanded data monitoring in response to the outbreak.