JERUSALEM (AP) — Millions worldwide believed government officials who said they needed confidential data for new tech tools to help stop coronavirus’ spread early on in the pandemic. In return, governments got a firehose of individuals’ private health details, photographs that captured their facial measurements and their home addresses. The AP has found that authorities used these technologies and data to halt travel for activists and ordinary people, harass marginalized communities and link people’s health information to other surveillance and law enforcement tools. In some cases, data was shared with spy agencies. The issue has taken on fresh urgency as China’s ultra-strict zero-COVID-19 policies recently ignited the largest public rebuke of the country’s authoritarian leadership in decades.
Police seize on COVID-19 tech to expand global surveillance
