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European Policy, Government Surveillance, Privacy & Data

Webinar Series: COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps in the U.S., EU and Asia

As government leaders, policymakers, and technology companies continue to navigate the global coronavirus pandemic, CDT is actively monitoring the latest responses and working to ensure they are grounded in civil rights and liberties. Our policy teams aim to help leaders craft solutions that balance the unique needs of the moment, while still respecting and upholding individual human rights. Find more of our work at cdt.org/coronavirus.

As part of CDT’s work to ensure government leaders, policymakers, and tech companies protect our civil liberties as well as our health, we’ve come together for another addition to our series of webinars on tech policy responses to COVID-19.

This episode is a joint conversation – it’s the inaugural webinar for the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung’s Tech and COVID-19 webinar series, and the third installment of our webinar series on Tech Policy Responses to COVID-19.

CDT’s Greg Nojeim gives an introduction of decentralized Bluetooth-enabled contact tracing technology based on the Apple/Google API, and describes some approaches to contact tracing in the U.S. Digital Asia Hub’s Dev Lewis explains the lessons learned from Singapore’s experience with Bluetooth-enabled contact tracing and how its experience differed from more intrusive approaches used in China and India. Mozilla Foundation’s Frederike Kaltheuner clarifies the debate on use of centralized vs. decentralized contact-tracing apps in Europe, as well as the problems that arise for apps that rely on centralized data storage with which the Google/Apple API can’t be used.

Watch the Webinar

Stay tuned to our social media channels and website for an announcement on the next installment in our webinar series, as well as your inboxes!

This webinar aired Wednesday, June 10, 2020. If you’d like to participate in future webinars in this series, reach out to us at [email protected].

Sabine Muscat, Heinrich Boell Foundation

Greg Nojeim, Director of the Freedom, Security and Technology Project at CDT
Greg Nojeim, Center for Democracy and Technology

Frederike Kaltheuner, Tech Policy Fellow at the Mozilla Foundation
Frederike Kaltheuner, Mozilla Foundation

Dev Lewis, Fellow and Program Lead at Digital Asia Hub
Dev Lewis, Digital Asia Hub

Carl Roberts, Heinrich Boell Foundation
Carl Roberts, Heinrich Boell Foundation