As the Coronavirus spreads death and fear throughout the world, the forces that have been chipping away at individual privacy and autonomy for decades have received a boost that will enable them to gather even more data and create even greater risks for societies and the individuals within them. In the US the impact of the 9/11 attacks on personal liberty have not fully receded and the current public health crisis threatens to push concerns about privacy further to the side in the name of safety.
Veena Dubal outlines some of the major concerns in a piece in the Guardian. As she notes, the current crisis has made it possible for actions taken in the name of reducing the risks of contracting the virus to overwhelm less immediate concerns about the erosion of individual rights. But this is precisely the time when it is most important to be mindful of the strategies that can be implemented to protect individual liberty. The virus will pass eventually, but the need to protect individual rights, particularly for those disadvantaged by the current structures of society, remains.
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