Privacy Implications of COVID-19 Contact Tracing (2020-2021)

This project team analyzed current approaches and attitudes toward contact tracing used by U.S. states and countries around the world. Team members assessed these approaches against globally accepted fair information privacy principles, considered long-term impacts of contact tracing and explored the risks of these approaches to marginalized and persecuted communities.

The team worked in five subteams:

Trust and Contact Tracing team: This subteam developed a survey to understand peoples’ attitudes toward sharing health information and to determine whether individuals felt their information would be used in good faith by institutions facilitating contact tracing. In particular, this subgroup was interested in the perception of Black and Latinx communities who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and have historical reasons to mistrust health services and other institutions.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) team: This subteam partnered with the OECD to consider how have different countries approached contact tracing. Team members analyzed six countries with a mix of cultural, political and geographic backgrounds (U.S., Mexico, United Kingdon, France, Israel, South Korea) and compared their approaches to contact tracing to develop a white paper with recommendations for approaches to future contract tracing programs and practices.
North Carolina Cities and Counties team: This subteam examined all 100 counties in North Carolina to assess and compare contact tracing policies across the state. Team members performed a literature review and reviewed data from county and township-level meetings to determine contact tracing trends and best practices. The team also conducted interviews with individuals from select North Carolina counties to examine how contact tracing was unfolding on the ground.
Technology team: This subteam focused on evaluating how different data servers are protecting and using collected contact tracing data. The team assessed centralized and decentralized methods of data collection and developed a working set of best practices and recommendations for future contact tracing efforts.
Duke Compact team: This subteam delved into the data management practices and privacy concerns associated with The Duke Compact. Required for Duke faculty, staff and students in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, the agreement outlined masking and physical distancing rules and allowed Duke to collect Duke Card data associated with building and parking access, financial transactions, wifi, campus housing and class rosters. Team members examined how this data was collected, who had access to it and where it is stored in order to consider the implications of The Duke Compact on privacy.