ACM Europe Technology Policy Committee Issues Statement on Contact Tracing
May 7, 2020
ACM’s Europe Technology Policy Committee has issued detailed principles and practices for the development and deployment of contact tracing technologies intended to track and arrest the spread of COVID-19. Europe TPC's statement calls on governments that adopt such systems to choose "only those which, by technical and legal design: respect and protect the rights of all individuals; safeguard personal data and privacy to the highest degree technically possible; and are subject to scrutiny by the scientific community and civil society before, during and after deployment."
The Committee’s principles and practices address five critical areas of policy: technical architecture, development transparency, expert oversight, legal safeguards, and public engagement. Key recommendations include making contact tracing applications:
- voluntary for members of the public to use (individual “opt-in”);
- internationally interoperable;
- subject to oversight by multidisciplinary committees of experts;
- strictly limited in their use and data collection by clear legal safeguards; and
- available for formal comment by the public and civil society.
Read the full statement and essential contact tracing principles and practices.
