Privacy Fears Spark Expert Exodus From European COVID-19 Tracing Project
A major European initiative to create coronavirus contact-tracing apps faces a growing backlash from cybersecurity experts over centralized data concerns. Over 300 specialists warn the approach could lead to unacceptable government surveillance.
A European project designed to build COVID-19 contact-tracing apps faces intense scrutiny over its privacy implications. The Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) initiative provides Bluetooth-based technology that allows governments to track virus exposure without logging users' precise locations. The project already claims seven governments are signed up, with forty more waiting in the wings to potentially use the system to replace broad lockdown measures.
However, prominent cybersecurity experts and researchers quickly abandon the project due to fears that it fails to protect user privacy. Academics from respected institutions like the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Catholic University of Leuven step away, arguing that the app's architecture leaves the door open for widespread surveillance.
Over 300 global technologists sign a joint statement asserting that while Bluetooth tracing is vastly preferable to GPS tracking, a centralized approach enables unacceptable government or private sector surveillance. This core debate over centralization versus decentralization threatens to undermine public trust in the very contact-tracing applications designed to help end the pandemic.