Good Morning!

"Sky Net" has launched: Judgement Day is near...

But don't worry, it won't be as dramatic as Linda Hamilton's experience in Terminator. However, there were some hefty measures taken by the Chinese government in terms of privacy rights.

China wants to fight the corona virus with a digital QR code

I am talking about the Health-QR code that was implemented on Chinese citizens' smartphones. If you haven't been following the developments, the news article below summarises things very nicely: China is fighting the coronavirus with a digital QR code. Here's how it works

Here you can read about the "digital epidemic prevention 'sky net' is rolling out on a full-scale with the Chinese speed."

The privacy worshippers are screaming at the top of their lungs that this is another government attempt at increasing citizen surveillance, and, subsequently, taking control over their everyday lives.

Pandemic prevention via QR Code offers many advantages

I hear their concerns and I can also sort of relate to them. But if I look as unemotionally as possible at pandemic risk prevention I see a lot of advantages in using a system that the Chinese Health-QR offers.

I'm thinking along these lines: if a pandemic breaks out, we have no chance of stopping it. We can flatten the curve, but this results in very high costs (in economic terms). In the end, it comes back to the concept of trying to identify and isolate those who are infected and the "at risk group" as quickly as possible. I think this can be done through surveillance technology, e.g. the Health-QR code system.

We wish you a good start to the new week! Stay healthy!