The global Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in social and economic disruption unprecedented in the modern era. Many countries have introduced severe measures to contain the virus, including travel restrictions, public event bans, non-essential business closures and remote work policies. While digital technologies help governments and organizations to enforce protection measures, such as contact tracing, their rushed deployment and adoption also raises profound concerns about surveillance, privacy and data protection. This article presents two critical cases on digital surveillance technologies implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic and delineates the privacy implications thereof. We explain the contextual nature of privacy trade-offs during a pandemic and explore how regulatory and technical responses are needed to protect privacy in such circumstances. By providing a multi-disciplinary conversation on the value of privacy and data protection during a global pandemic, this article reflects on the implications digital solutions have for the future and raises the question of whether there is a way to have expedited privacy assessments that could anticipate and help mitigate adverse privacy implications these may have on society.

中文翻译：

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压力下的创新：Covid-19 大流行期间对数据隐私的影响

全球 Covid-19 大流行导致了现代社会前所未有的社会和经济混乱。许多国家已采取严厉措施来遏制该病毒，包括旅行限制、公共活动禁令、非必要的企业关闭和远程工作政策。虽然数字技术帮助政府和组织实施保护措施，例如接触者追踪，但它们的快速部署和采用也引发了对监控、隐私和数据保护的深刻担忧。本文介绍了在 Covid-19 大流行期间实施的数字监控技术的两个关键案例，并描述了其对隐私的影响。我们解释了大流行期间隐私权衡的上下文性质，并探讨了在这种情况下如何需要监管和技术响应来保护隐私。通过提供关于全球大流行期间隐私和数据保护价值的多学科对话，本文反思了数字解决方案对未来的影响，并提出了是否有办法加快隐私评估的方法来预测并帮助减轻这些可能对社会产生的不利隐私影响。