Turkish pandemic plan raises concerns over citizens' digital rights
In effort to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, Ankara launched a mobile app that tracks patients, raising concern among digital privacy advocates.
ISTANBUL — As Turkey grapples with the fastest rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world, two initiatives linked to Ankara’s coronavirus response are raising concern among privacy and free speech advocates.
On Wednesday, the Turkish Health Ministry, in cooperation with local cell service providers, launched an application to monitor the movement of patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus through their smartphones. The Turkish presidency’s director of communications, Fahrettin Altun, said the app, known as the “Pandemic Isolation Tracking Project,” would seek to ensure COVID-19 patients were following quarantine measures.
Downloading the app is mandatory for all confirmed coronavirus patients, and those found to be leaving their homes will now receive automated text messages and calls asking them to return to predetermined quarantine areas.
Though a growing number of countries have introduced similar phone-tracking measures amid the pandemic and Turkish officials claim data used by the new app will be destroyed following the COVID-19 crisis, privacy advocates warn such digit monitoring tools could be easily abused for unrelated purposes.
