Objective:

To argue that privacy infrastructure is essential for effective measurement and control in infectious disease management, emphasizing the need for citizen acceptance of data collection.

Approach:

• Analysis of Contact-Tracing Failures: Discusses two patterns of failure in contact tracing: the lack of citizen trust and the repurposing of data.

Key Findings:

• COVID-19 highlighted a measurement failure in public health due to lack of systematic data collection and citizen trust.
• Privacy concerns hindered the adoption of contact-tracing applications, reflecting a distrust in data usage.
• Effective infectious disease measurement requires a trust infrastructure to protect individual privacy.

Interpretation:

Infectious disease measurement is inherently linked to privacy and involves political and ethical considerations, necessitating a framework that fosters trust and protects personal data.

Limitations:

• Current surveillance systems are vulnerable and require significant changes, including the establishment of trust infrastructure.
• Technical solutions alone cannot address the privacy concerns associated with data collection.

Conclusion:

Privacy protection must be established as a foundational infrastructure for effective infectious disease measurement and control.

Sources:

• Li et al. (2020)
• Alwan (2020)
• Buckee (2020)
• Wymant et al. (2021)
• Ho et al. (2023)
• Nissenbaum (2004)
• Vitak & Zimmer (2020)
• Budd et al. (2020)
• Morgan et al. (2022)
• Morgan et al. (2021)