Surveillance by any other name…

https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2020/04/12/contact-tracing-in-the-real-world/

Contact Tracing in the Real World

There have recently been several proposals for pseudonymous contact tracing, including from Apple and Google. To both cryptographers and privacy advocates, this might seem the obvious way to protect public health and privacy at the same time. Meanwhile other cryptographers have been pointing out some of the flaws.

There are also real systems being built by governments. Singapore has already deployed and open-sourced one that uses contact tracing based on bluetooth beacons. Most of the academic and tech industry proposals follow this strategy, as the “obvious” way to tell who’s been within a few metres of you and for how long. The UK’s National Health Service is working on one too, and I’m one of a group of people being consulted on the privacy and security.

But contact tracing in the real world is not quite as many of the academic and industry proposals assume.

First, it isn’t anonymous.

(Related) It’s not just the doing, it’s the undoing.

The Surveillance State Thrives During the Pandemic

J.D. Tuccille writes:

From cellphone tracking to drone eyes in the sky, perused health records, and GPS ankle bracelets, an epidemic of surveillance-state measures is spreading across the world. It’s all done in the name of battling the spread of COVID-19, of course, since every crisis is used to justify incursions into our liberty. But long after the virus has done its worst and moved on, we’re likely to be stuck with these invasions of our privacy—unless we push back, hard.

The rationales for surveillance are easy to understand, within certain limits. Public health authorities battling the pandemic want to know who is spreading the virus, which people they may have infected, and the movements of those potentially carrying the bug.

Read more on Reason.

Just a peek...

https://www.bespacific.com/law-enforcement-facial-recognition-use-case-catalogue/

Law Enforcement Facial Recognition Use Case Catalogue

IJIS Inst. & Int’l Ass’n of Chiefs of Police, Law Enforcement Facial Recognition Use Case Catalogue (March 2019) (25-page PDF): “…This Law Enforcement Facial Recognition Use Case Catalog is a joint effort by a Task Force comprised of I JIS Institute and the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The document includes a brief description of how facial recognition works, followed by a short explanation of typical system use parameters. The main body of the catalog contains descriptions and examples of known law enforcement facial recognition use cases. A conclusion section completes this catalog, including four recommended actions for law enforcement leaders..”

Sharing resources.

https://www.bespacific.com/wolters-kluwer-launched-free-searchable-covid-19-federal-and-state-laws/

Wolters Kluwer launched free searchable COVID-19 federal and state laws

“Wolters Kluwer Flatten the Research Curve – Compare COVID-19 State & Federal content by topic and jurisdiction in a single resource.

• Comprehensive Coverage: View federal and state laws, regulations, executive orders, and more; organized topically across Banking & Finance, Labor & Employment/HR & Benefits, Health & Infectious Disease, Tax, Securities and others.
• Complimentary Access: No log in required, whether you’re in-house counsel, a law firm associate, a health law expert, or any other interested professional.
• Sharable Content: Easily export, email, and print content to keep clients, customers, and colleagues informed…”