We have all seen living standards and life expectancy rise steadily over the last century. And for those of us lucky enough to have lived in the Western world, we have enjoyed peace and security for as long as most of us can remember. But if the current pandemic has shown us anything, it is that things can change dramatically and very quickly. In just two weeks the US has lost half the jobs created over the last decade.....no wonder Nouriel Roubini likens the impact of Covid-19 to that of an asteroid hitting planet Earth. As the jaw-dropping economic toll of the pandemic becomes clearer, the case for an extended lockdown gets ever harder to make. Each day that goes by under lockdown sees more businesses being impacted and puts some semblance of a recovery further out of reach. While astonishing in scale, government support packages and central bank stimulus can only go so far. There is now a real risk of mass unemployment, the implications of which are profound -- not just for the economy but for society too. We now face what has been described as a “coronavirus trilemma.” (1) We can end the lockdown and risk triggering a second wave of infections more nocuous than the initial outbreak. Alternatively we can maintain the lockdown until a vaccine is ready, but this would likely do unimaginable damage to businesses and our citizens. Think of the millions of people who live pay-check to pay-check....and you quickly realise that this option is all the more unrealistic. The third option is to relax some of the restrictions whilst ensuring that those who have, or are part of a "virus risk group" remain isolated, necessitating some form of surveillance and behaviour conditioning. The tools range from the less invasive and seemingly helpful (such as alerting citizens when they are in close proximity to those that are infected) to the frankly Orwellian (such as using drones to monitor the spread of the disease case-by-case). Even if they wanted to, it would be extremely difficult for politicians to opt for the first option. So we will likely have to choose between economic catastrophe and an erosion of civil liberties. It is a choice that does not offer the opportunity for a compromise.
While some fiercely object to any threat to our privacy, the unremitting popularity of Facebook -- even after the Cambridge Analytica scandal -- suggests that most people are happy to give up some of their data in order to access something they deem beneficial. Surely, if offered a choice between suffering financial hardship and a temporary invasion of privacy and civil liberties, many people would opt for the latter. Of course, concerns over surveillance creep are justified. If, by sacrificing our privacy, we were able to stop the spread of the virus and overcome the pandemic, then we would soon ask whether similar surveillance tech could help us solve other societal issues. Perhaps we could eliminate tax evasion, address soaring crime rates, or help healthcare providers treat other diseases and save more lives? In order to prevent a permanent invasion of privacy, we could have expiration dates embedded and locked into the software, effectively setting it to self-destruct after a given period of time. If there was ever a reason to deploy the total force of software, then surely this is it.
For my part the lesser of the evils is self evident and it is time to start thinking about not derailing the economy. Dominque Strauss-Khan recently suggested in his excellent piece entitled L'être, l'avoir et le pouvoir dans la crise that "we are witnessing an organised coma". At the risk of inaction and the coma being extended indefinitely, let us hope that our politicians will act with alclarity, courage and respect. Privacy is essential, yet there are times when it is a luxury we can not afford.
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2) Much of this post was originally published on April 10 by VentureBeat. I have revisited, changed the title and added a new conclusion: https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/10/privacy-yes-but-not-at-all-costs/
I started learning German in order to immigrate to Switzerland. For 2 years, I have been trying to promote Swiss watches in the USA market with mensluxurywatches.org. I emailed the CEO of Audemars Piguet, Mr. Francoise. Can they offer me a job? I asked. A lady answered me. She said that many young people were unemployed in Switzerland & all of the world due to coronavirus. If Switzerland is experiencing economic difficulties due to this virus, the next 3 years is a very critical situation for developing countries.
I hope we will defeat this virus as all humanity.