Recent news stories from distant places on the planet bring forward the serious dilemmas that gradually arise regarding the management of the next day in the social life of the globe.
In Cook County, USA, a proposed resolution would allow for the “disclosure of one’s COVID-19 status to first responders, including non-law-enforcement first responders, for purposes of protecting these workers and preventing the further spread of the virus”.
Closer to us, in Turkey (but also in dozens of other countries with tens of millions of residents), there is already buzz regarding a digital app – used in mobile phones – that allows governments, private entities and researchers to monitor habits, movements. and citizens’ health data, often without their consent.
These are just two of the dilemmas that all organized societies, sooner or later in the coming months, will have to face. Opinions will certainly cover the full spectrum, from near-sci-fi dystopic projections in a future full of policing and no freedom at all, to technology-praising predictions that put security above all else and see only the positive side of such developments.
A common denominator of all relevant dilemmas will be privacy protection versus public health / safety with the ghost of private data returning in a different form more relevant than ever. Once again, different systems of thought and perception will clash in the public sphere, in communication and in decision-making rooms. Once again, it will be very important that everyone “builds” their argument since – once again – it is a matter of perception.
