European mobile carriers will share user location data to track coronavirus
Eight major mobile carriers have agreed to share customer location data with the European Commission in a bid to track the spread of COVID-19, the GSMA said in a statement on Wednesday.
The announcement arrives after Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Telenor, Telia, A1 Telekom Austria and Vodafone discussed tracking options with European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Thierry Breton on Monday, reports Reuters.
Critics voiced concern over the potentially intrusive nature of the measure, saying a centralized database of location information could easily lead to a surveillance state.
Government officials attempted to allay fears by noting all collected data will be anonymized and destroyed once the pandemic is squashed. Further, the current strategy is about informing relevant agencies on the spread of the virus, not to centralize mobile data or police the public, an official said.
According to the European Data Protection Supervisor, the plan does not run afoul of EU privacy laws. EDPS head Wojciech Wiewiorowski in a letter to the Commission said it would be "preferable" to limit consumer location data to authorized experts in spatial epidemiology, data protection and data science. He added that the measures should not be made permanent, the report said.
"The EDPS often stresses that such developments usually do not contain the possibility to step back when the emergency is gone," Wiewiorowski said. "I would like to stress that such solution should be still recognized as extraordinary."
The EU agreement mirrors a similar move by Slovakia, whose parliament today passed legislation that allows government bodies to use location data to track the movement of those infected with the virus, according to the Financial Times. Data from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine shows 216 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country as of this writing.
The announcement arrives after Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Telenor, Telia, A1 Telekom Austria and Vodafone discussed tracking options with European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Thierry Breton on Monday, reports Reuters.
Critics voiced concern over the potentially intrusive nature of the measure, saying a centralized database of location information could easily lead to a surveillance state.
Government officials attempted to allay fears by noting all collected data will be anonymized and destroyed once the pandemic is squashed. Further, the current strategy is about informing relevant agencies on the spread of the virus, not to centralize mobile data or police the public, an official said.
According to the European Data Protection Supervisor, the plan does not run afoul of EU privacy laws. EDPS head Wojciech Wiewiorowski in a letter to the Commission said it would be "preferable" to limit consumer location data to authorized experts in spatial epidemiology, data protection and data science. He added that the measures should not be made permanent, the report said.
"The EDPS often stresses that such developments usually do not contain the possibility to step back when the emergency is gone," Wiewiorowski said. "I would like to stress that such solution should be still recognized as extraordinary."
The EU agreement mirrors a similar move by Slovakia, whose parliament today passed legislation that allows government bodies to use location data to track the movement of those infected with the virus, according to the Financial Times. Data from the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine shows 216 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country as of this writing.
Comments
Meanwhile this abhorrent behaviour (plenty of articles, but this one summarised most of the activities and is authoritative in marketing.)
https://adage.com/article/datadriven-marketing/24-billion-data-business-telcos-discuss/301058 ;
The idea has been on the table for a while and now the scale of the situation has made it necessary to put it into practice.
the US better not allow this, this is exactly what the current administration wants and they will try to use this “emergency state” as an excuse to do anything they want...they are not transparent and while people are reacting to tweets and news briefings they are doing something else completely. No matter what is said, you cannot trust our best interests are what they care about, because it’s not about that at all.
1) Massive testing of all suspected of being infected -- even if they do not have symptoms.
Current administration? Where did you get that idea? I think there are many in both parties that want this kind of thing, but don't confuse that with the current administration. The current administration, IMO, is a speed-bump in their way.
Zombie apocalypse, no doubt. I think you need to stop watching so much TV. Sheesh, what do you think this is, the black plague?
I'm not saying this isn't something to be concerned with, and that we should probably do some amount of social-distancing to help slow the spread a bit (to protect the vulnerable)... though I wonder if it might not be better to try and protect those people (from a spending point of view).
I'm saying your post reads like this is some existential crisis facing all of humanity, of which we have a slim chance of surviving. And, the mainstream media reflects that. When you talk about facts and science, maybe try putting the numbers alongside some other numbers for a bit more context.
re: normalcy - It's a bit self-fulfilling, don't you think? Of course things won't get back to normal while the government has everything shut down and the media is preaching hysteria 24/7. Whether that state matches science or facts depends on your trust around whether the government is acting based on them.
Much like other big issues facing the world, I've heard doctors and virologists giving reports all the way from mild to doom and gloom. But, maybe consider that one of the originators of the doom and gloom models is starting to revise the numbers by orders of magnitude.
The USA is #1 in one thing anyway -- the number of infections. And, as our healthcare system gets over run we stand the chance of being #1 in number of deaths as well.
As for the healthcare system being over run, that is more a matter of the precautions needed to be so extra careful about Covid-19, than actual capacity. If you have to suit-up and use special equipment each time anyone sees a patient, just in case, that puts a lot of extra load on a system. While there is a ton of improvement that could be made to the USA's medical system (and I'm for a form of universal healthcare, btw), capacity and expertise aren't the issue (in comparison to other systems).
Maybe this is a conspiracy, though, as if this goes far enough, it might wipe out some of those big blue spots where people mostly vote against Trump?
Sadly, we're in agreement on the $Trillions spent and wars, etc. But, just remember, that isn't the Trump administration. That's the neocons, which includes like 80+% of our government representation, Democrat or Republican. They are mostly one on that stuff, they just disagree about other social policy, or what they'd like to spend the trillions on if they get their way.
My gosh, $2T... that's like 1/10th the entire USA debt being added on top in a matter of weeks. But, I think my concern is more how many times more people will be ultimately lost due to the potential economic collapse and future repercussions of that $2T. And, the worst part of it is I doubt a sizable amount of that $2T is even going to where it is most needed... temporary income replacement for everyone who isn't working.
And, just for comparison, Trump acted way more quickly and with more effective measures than the leader of your neighbor to the north. My gosh, flights from China (and other impacted areas) are still coming into Canada, and our screening is handing out a pamphlet. At least we're *finally* putting together a semi-reasonable coverage package (a week or two too late).
Maybe in terms of time/implementation we are (as it appears the CDC initially messed up?)... and yes, Trump delayed, but take a look at what many other world leaders were also doing, or, say the mayors/governors of some of the hardest hit places (cf. parades in ChinaTown or hug and kiss all the Chinese people in the streets, etc.). As more has been learned, people have changed their minds... on both sides of the political spectrum. I don't think we should fault them for that, aside from the silly behavior (again, on both sides... the virtue signaling AND treating it only as a China problem, etc.)
Just remember that it seems only some hospitals are overrun. The reasons for that are kind of complex, and probably come down more to insurance companies and hospital administration. Again, I'm on the side of fixing that. I'd love to see the USA get something more like Canada has, though there are a LOT of problems and complexities with making such a move.
The equipment issue (from what I've heard) also comes down to hospital administration moving to 'just-in-time' type supply-chain procedures.
re: same treatment as with any contagious patient - Are you telling me that when they see patients with the flu, they'd suit up similarly?
Yeah, a bandaid along with the typical money-grab-fest and pork-stuffing.
The main problem I see, is that we still don't seem to know how contagious this is and/or deadly. I've heard about two strains (or more), which makes a lot of sense as maybe they act differently. Some are acting like if you walk within less than ~6 feet of someone, you'll get it, while others are saying you'd need prolonged time spent close, or some kind of more intimate contact to be infected. And, for some, the symptoms seem almost non-existent or quite mild, while others seem to be taken to near death (even some healthy people). It doesn't make sense yet on the whole.
It would be *much* better economically if we could try to protect the vulnerable (from the virus and w/ financial support), while letting as much of the rest of society to continue closer to normal. But, that depends on what we're actually facing here. The media has taken worst-case everything, and we seem to be reacting based on worst-case everything. My problem is that the other side of the equation isn't w/o cost (financially, sure, but also much bigger picture).
I don't think anyone is saying 'do nothing'. But, what about canceling bigger events/gatherings (ie. reasonable social distancing, at least for non-essential stuff), certain job types that require a lot of person-to-person interaction, very strict procedures for at-risk people (elderly care homes already do this for the most part, and good financial support for at-risk so they can stay isolated w/o financial impact), stopping certain travel, etc. I'd think a heck of a lot of jobs could still continue, whether from home, or say jobs like a warehouse worker or office job that needs to be in-office. They are in contact with the same few people each day, not random public. (BTW, I'm still working part-time in that situation, and I'm not really afraid at all in terms of health.)
Well, there are some parallels, IMO. The fear (while there is real problems and concern in both cases) is being driven by the most extreme models, and most only covered on the most extreme outcomes by the media. The science seems to be debated or at least undecided in some ways, yet we're mostly only hearing one side. The push is to (potentially) overreact w/o seemingly counting the costs of doing so.
LOL NO! They are overrun because, as I just described, despite knowing that the virus was coming we did not prepare and instead let the virus run out of control and did not start reacting till far too late -- and then the response was inadequate -- and still is.
(And yes, hospitals have strict procedures for handling and isolating infectious patients -- all of which are being violated these days due to our lack of preparation. That puts both patients and staff at high risk.)
The other thing is who is „vulnerable“.
All true.... But also, here in the U.S., most beds are filled with middle aged people rather than elderly. That may be simply because there are more of them to get sick (I haven't seen statistics to break that down) but they do seem to comprise the bulk of hospitalized patients.
http://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/research_articles/2020/covid_paper_MEDRXIV-2020-043752v1-Murray.pdf
http://adam.curry.com/enc/1584647876.372_admbrettgiroirhhsonthewhotestthatwasnotoffered.mp3
Here's what the MSM was saying early on, just for a bit of context...
Media supercuts of warning FLU worse than corona virus
http://adam.curry.com/enc/1585858524.926_meidasupercutsofwarningfluworsethancoronavirus.mp3
Didn't Tump shut down flights from hot-spots quite early, and was widely criticized for doing so? I think we (Canada) finally stopped flights a couple days ago. Our fearless leader is hiding in his house in his PJs. And, our screening was handing out a pamphlet.
You mean like the projection in the UK that set the whole thing ablaze... downgrading from 500k to 20k?