COVID-19 Mobile Contact Tracing Apps (MCTA): A Digital Vaccine or a Privacy Demolition?

The COVID-19 global pandemic emerged in the late 2019 causing so far a massive global health disruption with many fatalities and huge economy impact, enforcing most if not all governments to a global lockdown. Besides the battle on the medical front-line, governments and the industry also massively explored the deployment of information and communication technologies to track and curb the spread of the virus. On the front-line of these efforts, have been the so-called Mobile Contact Tracing Applications (MCTA). These refer to mobile apps that exploit the rich ecosystem of mobile sensors (e.g., location, proximity) as well as social networks to facilitate the process of identification of persons who may have been previously into contact with a covid infected person and subsequent collection of further information about these contacts. Although MCTA can in theory help governments fight the rapid spread of diseases like COVID-19, there are important privacy considerations and many claim that these technologies will put in place a massive global surveillance infrastructure that will survive even when a vaccine for the COVID-19 disease has been found. This panel aims to discuss the major challenges and open topics surrounding MCTA. The panelists are expected to bring wealth of experience and vision from the academic, governmental and industrial sector to answer a set of challenging questions that are currently open to public debate as well as the global benefits one can expect when fighting the COVID-19 spread.