ACLU releases white paper on the limits of location tracking in time of epidemic

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has released a white paper on the limits of location tracking in time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Authored by Jay Stanley and Jennifer Stisa Granick, this white paper displays the enormous impact of cell phone location tracking technology on the privacy of individuals; in light of their potential to reveal their social, sexual, religious, and political associations. Examining the different proposed uses of these technologies, the white paper suggests that data on individuals’ locations is not accurate enough for automated contact tracing, and that the algorithms are not likely to be reliable.