Privacy at risk? Understanding the perceived privacy protection of health code apps in China

Abstract

As a key constituent of China's approach to fighting COVID-19, Health Code apps (HCAs) not only serve the pandemic control imperatives but also exercise the agency of digital surveillance. As such, HCAs pave a new avenue for ongoing discussions on contact tracing solutions and privacy amid the global pandemic. This article attends to the perceived privacy protection among HCA users via the lens of the contextual integrity theory. Drawing on an online survey of adult HCA users in Wuhan and Hangzhou (N = 1551), we find users’ perceived convenience, attention towards privacy policy, trust in government, and acceptance of government purposes regarding HCA data management are significant contributors to users’ perceived privacy protection in using the apps. By contrast, users’ frequency of mobile privacy protection behaviors has limited influence, and their degrees of perceived protection do not vary by sociodemographic status. These findings shed new light on China's distinctive approach to pandemic control with respect to the state's expansion of big data-driven surveillance capacity. Also, the findings foreground the heuristic value of contextual integrity theory to examine controversial digital surveillance in non-Western contexts. Put tougher, our findings contribute to the thriving scholarly conversations around digital privacy and surveillance in China, as well as contact tracing solutions and privacy amid the global pandemic.

Mark Shepard, There are No Facts. Attentive Algorithms, Extractive Data Practices, and the Quantification of Everyday Life

“…Shepard also explores the potential for different types of data manipulation (p.179). This is especially interesting as a visible relationship exists between users' trust in the government and their perception of privacy protection (Huang et al, 2022). Throughout the chapter, Shepard highlights the diverse approaches taken by governments and institutions worldwide in dealing with the pandemic.…”

Personal Information Protection and Privacy Policy Compliance of Health Code Apps in China: Scale Development and Content Analysis

“…Meanwhile, health code apps will serve as strategic health and medical service platforms. This strategy will turn individual health data, such as medical records and biometrics, into critical assets to reinforce government administration and social management [ 30 ]. Such an extension has raised concerns regarding the normalization of health code apps in the postpandemic society and the routinization of expanded government power [ 31 , 32 ].…”