A “Privacy-First” Canadian Public Policy Approach to Digital Contact Tracing Technology (“DCTT”) Rel

Effective COVID-19 contact tracing is an essential element of any potential successful public health response to the pandemic.17 In the words of the World Health Organization (“WHO”), “(c)ontact tracing is an essential public health measure and a critical component of comprehensive strategies to control the spread of COVID-19”.18 DEFINITION OF CONTACT TRACING 15. [...] In the context of COVID-19, the primary purpose of contact tracing is to help with infection control22 (i.e., to “contain the spread of the virus”23), because individuals in contact (especially close) with an infected person have a higher risk of becoming infected and sharing the virus with others24. [...] The longer it takes to start contact tracing, the more complex that task is for the contact tracers because more time has passed.”47 Further, while manual tracing can be very effective at the early stages of a potential epidemic, the efficacy of manual tracing declines afterwards, as the number of infections increases and requires corresponding growth in the number of contact tracers.48 These conc. [...] The app developer (i.e., PHA or PHA-authorized developer on the PHA’s behalf) is responsible for ensuring the app complies with the Google/Apple API Terms of Service and other relevant Google/Apple app store developer policies.161 Further, the app developer is the “legal entity” that is “solely responsible for complying with applicable data protection and privacy laws and regulations”.162 The Goog. [...] In all the global crises, pandemics and social upheavals that may yet come, those in control of the computers, not 29 those with the largest datasets, have the best visibility and the best – and perhaps the scariest — ability to change the world (…) (D)eflating digital power isn’t just about governing data: it’s the walls of the underlying systems we have to tear down.”245 101.