Jun 152020

Who’s Balancing Privacy Against Public Health and Everything Else?

Alan Charles Raul
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*Article first appeared in The Hill on June 13, 2020.

Concerns over the use of location tracking and contact tracing of infected individuals to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have once again placed “privacy” at the forefront of public attention. And even though Congress declared privacy to be a fundamental right in 1974, it established no cabinet office or institutional framework to focus on the role of data protection and digital technology in our society. Consequently, during these days of COVID-19, there is no senior government official responsible for taking account of and balancing the trade-offs between privacy and public health.

Click here to read in full.

Alan Charles Raul

Washington, D.C., New York

araul@sidley.com

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