New states of emergency: normalizing techno-surveillance in the time of COVID-19

摘要

The coronavirus has prompted states to hastily embrace sophisticated yet questionable digital surveillance tools such as contact tracing apps, turning once again to technologies as political quick fixes and rapid policy responses to the crisis. Yet, such apps raise serious concerns related to widespread surveillance, the outsourcing of expertise and sensitive data to tech giants, and the infringement of citizens' rights. The article aims to explore the state-of-play with respect to deploying tracking apps at a large scale, including potential misuses, harmful effects, and function creep leading to radical forms of state-corporate techno-surveillance. Whereas tracking apps represent a critical experiment for the role technology will play in tackling future pandemics, scepticism should surround techno-solutionism when it comes to complex problems. Hyped, and sometimes ineffective, technological silver bullets mobilized during the coronavirus state of emergency should trigger the careful assessment of the trade-offs between democratic principles and technologically mediated emergency politics.