Combating COVID On Campus

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View this email in your browser For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Whitepaper Raises Concerns Ove COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps On Campus Warns that invasive tech products are no substitute for manual contact tracing, highlighting potential dangers to students and staff. [NEW YORK, NY, 7/8/2020] -- Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy group, released its whitepaper Combatting COVID on Campus, detailing concerns with universities’ uses of invasive tracking technologies to monitor the spread of COVID-19 on campus. The report warns that the expansion of high-tech contact tracing (including smartphone tracking and facial recognition) is unlikely to provide any public health benefits, but it may exacerbate health inequalities, reinforce bias, and undermine civil rights. SEE: Combatting COVID Cn Campus https://www.stopspying.org/campus-covid    Medium One-Zero: Covid Can’t Be an Excuse for Back-to-School Surveillance https://onezero.medium.com/covid-cant-be-an-excuse-for-back-to-school-surveillance-b2c6c1ffb1a   “We have no evidence that these invasive technologies will be anything more than a dangerous distraction,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “Growing numbers of schools are investing in new technologies that will undermine both privacy and public health. As universities face extreme financial pressure to reopen in-person instruction, they can’t gamble student and staff safety on these unproven technologies. Even worse, many of these same surveillance systems have been shown to exacerbate health inequalities, discriminating against communities of color. If we want colleges and universities to reopen safely, there must be a massive public investment in culturally-competent manual contact tracing.”   The civil rights group began warning against the adoption of contact tracing apps in March of this year, highlighting the way new tracking technologies would undermine both privacy and public health. In May, the group detailed the potential dangers of emerging Bluetooth-based smartphone contact tracing software. Earlier today, reporting from the New York Times has confirmed the limitations and dangers of contact tracing apps. SEE: Washington Post– The Technology 202: Other countries use surveillance to fight coronavirus. Privacy advocates worry the U.S. could follow. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-technology-202/2020/03/17/the-technology-202-other-countries-use-surveillance-to-fight-coronavirus-privacy-advocates-worry-the-u-s-could-follow/5e70268c88e0fa101a74acf2/   Beware: Bluetooth Ahead https://www.stopspying.org/bluetooth   N.Y. Times - Virus-Tracing Apps Are Rife With Problems. Governments Are Rushing to Fix Them. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/technology/virus-tracing-apps-privacy.html The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider hosted by the Urban Justice Center. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color.   - END – Copyright © 2019 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.