Checks & Balances

Covid-19 puts governments everywhere between a rock and a hard place. If they continue to enforce strict isolation will their economies collapse? If they don’t, will mortality rates soar?

Some argue for a technological solution, but are aware it may bring increased surveillance. Can a balance be struck between individual privacy and public health needs? In more than a dozen countries technology is already used to track and trace the infection, but how is it used as a state-controlled surveillance tool?

And will the proposed NHS tracking app work with Apple and Google privacy and tracking protocols? What happens to collected data – where will it be stored and what differentiates between centralized and decentralized storage?

Chaired by Elizabeth Palmer, speakers include:

Antonella Napolitano works on cybersecurity and biometrics at Privacy International. She was Communications Manager at CILD, the Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights.

Chris Yiu is an Executive Director at the Tony Blair Institute, where he leads the Technology & Public Policy team. He is also a member of the advisory board at Digital Leaders, curator of the AI website DeepIndex, and a trustee of ENABLE Scotland.

Jack Stubbs is European Cybersecurity Correspondent at Reuters based in London. He covers cybersecurity across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Some of his recent reporting has detailed the surveillance products being pitched by cyber intelligence companies to track people with COVID-19, and attempts by state-backed hackers to steal information about the disease and global response efforts. Jack has previously reported for Reuters Russia & Ukraine.