The Chinese government is behind an amazing app, recently made available to the people. This allows users to determine their potential close contact with a person infected with the coronavirus. However, this application seems to raise ethical questions, particularly in terms of privacy.
A few days ago, we mentioned the anger of part of the Chinese population regarding the management of the epidemic. While this anger is mostly directed at Wuhan policymakers , the central government in Beijing logically took part in the affair. A team from the country's top anti-corruption agency has been sent to Wuhan to investigate the Li Wenliang case.
The Chinese government wants to show its "benevolence" to the people. As Chinese news agency Xinhua reports in an article published on February 10, 2020, a state-created mobile application was released two days earlier. This is intended to help citizens check whether or not they have recently found themselves in a risky situation regarding the Covid-19 coronavirus.
To access the app, users must first scan a QR Code. Then, it is a question of entering various information such as the name, the telephone number as well as the national identifier. After that, the application is able to indicate if the user has recently had close contact with an infected person . In this case, the software advises the person to stay at home and contact the authorities. In addition, his entourage is notified, whether family, friends or even the staff of the train in which the user is, for example.
The app is a collaboration between the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and two government departments, namely the General Office of China Business Council. State as well as the National Health Commission. However, the question is whether it is possible to trust this application. Indeed, there is very little information regarding the application, apart from the statement by the Xinhua News Agency.
According to the information available, it is a "close contact detector". In other words, the application has access to location data and medical data about citizens. The software makes it possible to determine whether there has been close contact with a person who is infected, or who has symptoms and who has subsequently been diagnosed positive. This therefore implies knowing the location of people as well as their medical news. In other words, the tool clearly relies on mass surveillance.
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