A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life?
COVID-19 was an unprecedented pandemic that changed the lives of everyone. To handle the virus’s rapid spread, governments and big tech companies, such as Google and Apple, implemented Contact Tracing Applications (CTAs). However, the response by the public was different in each country. While some...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/3/2/14 |
| _version_ | 1797594087984988160 |
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| author | Khosro Salmani Brian Atuh |
| author_facet | Khosro Salmani Brian Atuh |
| author_sort | Khosro Salmani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | COVID-19 was an unprecedented pandemic that changed the lives of everyone. To handle the virus’s rapid spread, governments and big tech companies, such as Google and Apple, implemented Contact Tracing Applications (CTAs). However, the response by the public was different in each country. While some countries mandated downloading the application for their citizens, others made it optional, revealing contrasting patterns to the spread of COVID-19. In this study, in addition to investigating the privacy and security of the Canadian CTA, COVID Alert, we aim to disclose the public’s perception of these varying patterns. Additionally, if known of the results of other nations, would Canadians sacrifice their freedoms to prevent the spread of a future pandemic? Hence, a survey was conducted, gathering responses from 154 participants across Canada. Next, we questioned the participants regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and their knowledge and opinion of CTAs before presenting our findings regarding other countries. After showing our results, we then asked the participants their views of CTAs again. The arrangement of the preceding questions, the findings, and succeeding questions to identify whether Canadians’ opinions on CTAs would change, after presenting the proper evidence, were performed. Among all of our findings, there is a clear difference between before and after the findings regarding whether CTAs should be mandatory, with 34% of participants agreeing before and 56% agreeing afterward. This hints that all the public needed was information to decide whether or not to participate. In addition, this exposes the value of transparency and communication when persuading the public to collaborate. Finally, we offer three recommendations on how governments and health authorities can respond effectively in a future pandemic and increase the adoption rate for CTAs to save more lives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:18:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c5916782a755407cb98b77e69269a7f2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2624-800X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:18:46Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy |
| spelling | doaj.art-c5916782a755407cb98b77e69269a7f22023-11-18T11:02:03ZengMDPI AGJournal of Cybersecurity and Privacy2624-800X2023-06-013225927410.3390/jcp3020014A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life?Khosro Salmani0Brian Atuh1Department of Mathematics and Computing, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, CanadaDepartment of Mathematics and Computing, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6, CanadaCOVID-19 was an unprecedented pandemic that changed the lives of everyone. To handle the virus’s rapid spread, governments and big tech companies, such as Google and Apple, implemented Contact Tracing Applications (CTAs). However, the response by the public was different in each country. While some countries mandated downloading the application for their citizens, others made it optional, revealing contrasting patterns to the spread of COVID-19. In this study, in addition to investigating the privacy and security of the Canadian CTA, COVID Alert, we aim to disclose the public’s perception of these varying patterns. Additionally, if known of the results of other nations, would Canadians sacrifice their freedoms to prevent the spread of a future pandemic? Hence, a survey was conducted, gathering responses from 154 participants across Canada. Next, we questioned the participants regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and their knowledge and opinion of CTAs before presenting our findings regarding other countries. After showing our results, we then asked the participants their views of CTAs again. The arrangement of the preceding questions, the findings, and succeeding questions to identify whether Canadians’ opinions on CTAs would change, after presenting the proper evidence, were performed. Among all of our findings, there is a clear difference between before and after the findings regarding whether CTAs should be mandatory, with 34% of participants agreeing before and 56% agreeing afterward. This hints that all the public needed was information to decide whether or not to participate. In addition, this exposes the value of transparency and communication when persuading the public to collaborate. Finally, we offer three recommendations on how governments and health authorities can respond effectively in a future pandemic and increase the adoption rate for CTAs to save more lives.https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/3/2/14usable privacycontact tracing apps (CTAs)data privacy and security |
| spellingShingle | Khosro Salmani Brian Atuh A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life? Journal of Cybersecurity and Privacy usable privacy contact tracing apps (CTAs) data privacy and security |
| title | A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life? |
| title_full | A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life? |
| title_fullStr | A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life? |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life? |
| title_short | A Lesson for the Future: Will You Let Me Violate Your Privacy to Save Your Life? |
| title_sort | lesson for the future will you let me violate your privacy to save your life |
| topic | usable privacy contact tracing apps (CTAs) data privacy and security |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2624-800X/3/2/14 |
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