In the rush to respond to Covid-19 and its aftermath, government and companies are exploiting data with few safeguards. PI is acting to ensure that this crisis isn't abused.
Tech companies, governments, and international agencies have all announced measures to help contain the spread of the Coronavirus.
Some of these measures impose severe restrictions on people’s freedoms, including to their privacy and other human rights. Unprecedented levels of surveillance, data exploitation, and misinformation are being tested across the world.
Many of those measures are based on extraordinary powers, only to be used temporarily in emergencies. Others use exemptions in data protection laws to share data.
Some may be effective and based on advice from epidemiologists, others will not be. But all of them must be temporary, necessary, and proportionate.
It is essential to keep track of them. When the pandemic is over, such extraordinary measures must be put to an end and held to account.
You can find out more from Karisma here: https://web.karisma.org.co/
You can read the report here: https://web.karisma.org.co/useless-and-dangerous-a-critical-exploration-of-covid-applications-and-their-human-rights-impacts-in-colombia/
