The methods adopted to keep tabs on the spread of the coronavirus have opened lucrative new markets for companies that extract, sell, and analyse private data.

One of the world’s foremost experts on mobile phone surveillance said the pandemic had created a “9/11 on steroids” that could lead to grave abuses of power.

“Most of these measures don’t have sunset clauses. They could establish what many people are describing as a new normal,” said Ron Deibert, who heads the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

“This isn’t just an issue with authoritarian governments. This is happening across the world,” said Samuel Woodhams, the digital rights lead at the London-based Top10VPN, who has compiled an index of new surveillance measures related to the coronavirus outbreak. “A lot of the technologies we’re seeing are alarmingly similar.”

Curated from The Guardian