Someone Really Is Watching Me: New Privacy Guidance For Contact Tracing

Earlier this week we wrote about Alberta's mobile contact tracing application, introduced with the objective of monitoring exposure to and containing the spread of COVID-19. Similar apps which trace contacts within proximity to someone who has been confirmed or is likely to be a carrier of COVID-19 to notify individuals of potential exposures, are being introduced across Canada and around the world. Yesterday, the Canadian federal, provincial and territorial Privacy Commissioners issued a joint statement for governments and other organizations considering this type of technology. Although the statement is aimed at government and public health authorities, the guidance is relevant to other organizations, to which we expect a similar standard will be applied.