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

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, the strict surveillance measures adopted by many countries to monitor citizens and assure that they adhere to the lockdown could result in long-lasting theft of personal freedoms. According to reports, Joseph Cannataci, the UN special rapporteur on the right to privacy has said that ‘Dictatorships and authoritarian societies often start in the 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 not give away all their freedoms during the coronavirus pandemic. This pandemic has led governments to initiate some emergency measures and declared themselves on a war footing. Experts have suggested that the 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. The danger is that while these measures were brought in to tackle the virus and ensure the safety of citizens, these measures may out-live the virus according to Joseph Cannataci.

Read: Coronavirus Outbreak: 49 Positive Cases So Far, 11644 Travellers Under Surveillance In J&K

Read: Coronavirus Outbreak: 4 Positive, More Than 4,000 Under Surveillance In Jammu And Kashmir

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

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

Read: Coronavirus Outbreak: 2,157 Persons Put Under Surveillance In Jammu & Kashmir

Read: Harry Styles Admits That News About Coronavirus Makes Him 'very Anxious'

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