Asia is the world’s worst region for mass surveillance privacy violations

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – According to a new Right-to-Privacy Index (RPI), Asia has become the world’s worst region for mass surveillance privacy violations, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reports. Published by British-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, the RPI cites Pakistan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, India and the Philippines as among the worst offenders.

The RPI rated 198 countries for “privacy violations stemming from mass surveillance operations, retention of personal data, home searches and other breaches,” Reuters said. Ranking Asia as the surveillance hotspot of the world, researchers are especially concerned that intrusive measures rolled out to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic may be retained permanently by some countries. “Asia as a region risks sleep-walking into serious privacy breaches if there isn’t transparency when it comes to data use with respect to COVID-19 surveillance measures,” Verisk Maplecroft human rights analyst Sofia Nazalya told Reuters.

According to Nazalya, China was at the forefront of using mass surveillance to track the COVID-19 virus. Mandatory health apps were installed, with increased use of facial recognition technologies. China has also used voice-activated drones to hover over citizens and call out anyone in breach of virus controls.

India introduced a mandatory COVID-19 tracking app with the threat of imprisonment or fines, Nazalya said. Indian officials are also developing a national database which could further violate the right to privacy.

Nazalya advises that governments should not only introduce, but also enforce, data privacy laws. Moreover, Nazalya said, businesses should purposefully deal with diminishing privacy rights so as not to face loss of reputation and lack of compliance issues.

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