A sociotechnical analysis of COVID-19 contact tracing applications
On October 6, 2020, Quebec, along with some 40 other states, gave the green light to a contact tracing application based on technology developed by Apple and Google to combat COVID-19. Contact tracing applications, however, raise a number of issues related to democratic rights and social justice, most notably privacy and equality in the face of a technology to which not everyone has access. How did this object become an object of convergence in the use of digital surveillance ? The argument developed in this article suggests that mass adoption masks power dynamics between developers, civil society, public health authorities and governments in regard to the design of technologies used for pandemic management. Apple, Google and their supporters have succeeded in normalizing a technology that materializes a distrust of the state. This analysis illuminates the power dynamics behind the promotion of technical tools in the fight against COVID-19, as well as the blind spots generated by the primacy of privacy.