Tracking and Tracing in Israel during COVID-19
Balancing between the Need to Protect Public Health and Individual Right to Privacy
in Israel Studies ReviewSearch for other papers by Raphael Cohen-Almagor in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Eldar Haber in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
All currencies in US Dollar
Abstract
In March 2020, the Israeli government decided that its internal security agency may collect, process, and use technological information measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19. This was done by tracking the cellphones of those who may have contracted the virus, along with obtaining details on those who were in proximity for more than fifteen minutes and fourteen days prior to the positive outcome of those traced. The article discusses the controversial track and trace measure and proposes an alternative model of using tracing technology, considering the obligation to preserve human life and the right to individual privacy among other rights and liberties. It is argued that measures infringing on the right to privacy must be effectively restricted in time and meet standards of necessity, proportionality, and scientific validity, as required by constitutional standards. The government needs to balance the right to health against the right to privacy.
Contributor Notes
RAPHAEL COHEN-ALMAGOR, DPhil, Oxford University, is Professor and Founding-Director of the Middle East Study Centre, Hull University; The Olof Palme Visiting Professor, Lund University, and President of The Association for Israel Studies. With more than 350 publications to his name, most notable are his books The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance (1994), The Right to Die with Dignity (2001), Speech, Media and Ethics (2005), The Scope of Tolerance (2006), Confronting the Internet's Dark Side (2015), and Just, Reasonable Multiculturalism (2021). E-mail: R.Cohen-Almagor@hull.ac.uk
ELDAR HABER is an Associate Professor (tenured) at the Faculty of Law, University of Haifa, and the co-director of the Haifa Center for Law & Technology (HCLT). His main research interests consist of various facets of law and technology, including AI, cyber law, intellectual property law (focusing mainly on copyright), privacy, civil rights and liberties, and criminal law. E-mail: ehaber@univ.haifa.ac.il