- May 27, 2020
On May 27, 2020, Aspen Germany hosted a virtual conversation on “Data Conundrums in the Age of COVID-19” with María Álvarez, Public Policy and Government Relations Manager, Google; Chris Boos, Co-founder PEPP-PT Initiative; Founder and Managing Director, Arago; Member of the German Government’s Digital Council; and Ulrich Kelber, Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information.
New digital tools have become a central part of Germany’s COVID-19 Exit Strategy. But they have also presented new questions regarding the privacy and protection of citizens’ personal data. How can governments, companies and users guarantee that contact tracing apps, symptom monitoring technology and other technologies are safeguarding hard won data protections? Have citizen expectations regarding data protection changed? What level of data access is necessary for these tools to become effective? This discussion examined what if any, are the tradeoffs confronting society between quick deployment of COVID-19 mitigating technology and preservation of data protection and privacy.
This conversation is part of an interactive series on “COVID-19 and Technology”. It gives participants the opportunity to engage with leading researchers, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, thinkers and civil society in interactive discussions looking at how tech is dealing with the COVID-19 crisis in Germany, Europe, the transatlantic space and the world. Talks will address how technology like AI, 3D printing and big data are supporting diagnostics, medical production, resilience and analytics of infection spreading. They will address issues around the geo-politics of tech in the pandemic, the race for a vaccine, cybersecurity, disinformation and fake news, and the use (and misuse) of data. This virtual conversation series takes place in partnership with Google.
This discussion was recorded and can be found on Aspen Germany’s YouTube Channel:
