The plan to track COVID-19 in Argentina raises privacy concerns

In Argentina, citizens are not only concerned about the progression of the coronavirus (COVID-19), but also about privacy. This has been highlighted by President Alberto Fernández since May 8 that those who return to work at the end of the quarantine must meet the requirements of the CuidAR platform.

The CuidAr application (app) created by the Ministry of Public Innovation together with the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Nation must be downloaded to the smartphones of people who go to work outside their homes. The measure raises public concern about the use of the personal information that the government will have access to.

The main function of the app, which is available for iPhone and Android, is to examine the symptoms that may appear in citizens to track patients with coronaviruses based on geolocation. According to publications in local media, The government knows the geographic location of each user at all timestogether with their health data – provided by every person. You can also share some data with social networks like Facebook.

Dangerous data in the wrong hands

Although the application already has over 1.5 million users, the manifestations of rejection the Argentine have spread through social networks. Many fear that the app will have a scary impact and give the state more power over its citizens, considering that it says it violates several articles of the Argentine constitution pointed out the lawyer Alejandro Fargosi.

“We agree that the technology in this phase of the pandemic can be very useful in tracking down and, if necessary, isolating possible contacts between the infected people. However, we are concerned about how the government can use this enormous amount of data about the citizens to whom it will have access. ” they expressedthrough a statement by opposition speakers on the use of citizen data.

Computer expert Javier Smaldone ask that the Argentine government Publish the source code. This is the version of the app that developers can detailTo understand and review what it does, it doesn’t and how it does. The developer also demands that all non-essential functions such as monitoring, monitoring are removed and not required.

There is a clause in the general terms and conditions that is accepted upon installation [la app] This means that you are prohibited from determining what the application is doing and what we know what it is doing. Since some of us have violated these terms and conditions by exposing ourselves – and because the President himself recognized this at a press conference on April 10th – I can say that this application serves to track the physical location of people . However, it is not clear who exactly can access this information, how long this information will be collected and what will happen to this information when this exceptional situation is over.

Javier Smaldone, computer security expert.

Solution or privacy issue?

Self-assessment by As a first step, the CuidAR app measures the user’s body temperature. A series of questions about other symptoms related to COVID-19 must then be answered, e.g. B. Loss of taste and smell, sore throat and shortness of breath. Finally, the user must report whether they have diabetes, cancer, kidney, cardiological, or respiratory diseases.

After completing the statement, the application determines whether the person has symptoms related to COVID-19. If the answer is negative issues a certificate to go to work for 14 daysAlthough he recommends repeating the exam every 48 hours. If the answer is positive, the application lists the care measures to be taken and a 14-day isolation countdown.

Argentina is not the only country that implements COVID-19 contact tracking technology, nor is it the only country that has privacy concerns. China, United States The United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and several European countries have developed similar applications. Some public health experts say that these applications can help control virus outbreaks. However Data protection specialists warn of the need to restrict and protect the data collected to prevent anyone from owning them and later marketing them.

In Spain, for example, the multinational company for professional advice, auditing and legal advice PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) announced that it would introduce a health passport registered in a blockchain to make it easier for employees to re-enter the job. Warning for coronavirus.

The solution is a tool that is based on a private blockchain network and enables the input and query of the results of the tests to prove the presence of the virus in real time. Contact tracking is the process of tracking and isolating people who may have been ill contagious after someone has tested positive. There are several tracking applications today, but very few are based on data protection.

The Zcash Foundation has developed a free open source application that is already available for implementation. The foundation worked on this project as part of the TCN coalition group – temporary contact number for the acronym in English – which is made up of employees from around the world who have joined the idea of ​​monitoring, designing, implementing and deploying contacts without monitoring and while maintaining user data.