COVID-19: UN Privacy chief asks people to 'be vigilant and not give away all freedoms'

Amidst coronavirus pandemic, strict surveillance measures opted by many countries to monitor citizens and assure that y here to lockdown could result in long-lasting ft of personal freedoms. According to reports, Joseph Cannataci, UN special rapporteur on right to privacy has said that ‘Dictatorships and authoritarian societies often start in face of a threat.

'Citizens must remain vigilant'

As per reports, this is why Joseph believes that it is important that people remain vigilant and do t give away all ir freedoms during coronavirus pandemic. This pandemic has led governments to initiate some emergency measures and declared mselves on a war footing. Experts have suggested that best way to combat this pandemic is to enforce quarantine measures.

According to reports, while many governments grapple with how to enforce this lockdown, many governments have turned to authoritarian means such as facial recognition and phone tracking. danger is that while se measures were brought in to tackle virus and ensure safety of citizens, se measures may out-live virus according to Joseph Cannataci.

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As per reports, Joseph Cannataci has claimed that surveillance measures such as ones being discussed above must be written down in law and have limits placed on ir us. Cannataci feels that data that is obtained through phone tracing can be easily abused or stolen and used against vulnerable ethnic, religious or sexual mirities and reby exposing m to risk of violence and discrimination.

Cannataci also used example of health data, he claimed that while during time of crisis this data is essential to determine vulnerability of people to COVID-19, data can also be used to identify HIV positive individuals in nations that see it as an indicator of homosexuality. refore, Cannataci reportedly said that people must be very careful in regards to how se surveillance tools are used and citizens should use every means y have to influence policies and laws that govern m.

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(Representative Im) (Im Credit Pixabay)