Since the start of the pandemic, governments and stakeholders involved in the fight against the virus have been relying on data analytics and digital technologies to address this novel threat.
Mobile applications are now seen by many as a complementary response to the need to rapidly perform contact monitoring. Indeed, mobile solutions that enable the automatic detection of contacts would save precious hours of work of public health staff tracing the chain of infection, and could do so with rapidity that matches the speed of the virus.
However, while technological tools can play an important role in addressing the current challenge, we have to ask ourselves an essential question before systematic and uncritical adoption of technology : are those “Apps” the solution?
Alessandra Pierucci, Chair of the Committee of Convention 108 and Jean-Philippe Walter, Data Protection Commissioner of the Council of Europe try to contribute to the reflexions currently underway in many countries and recall the necessary safeguards that will have to be implemented where such solutions will be chosen.
