The Right to Be Forgotten and COVID-19: Privacy versus Public Interest

Abstract

Recent studies highlight the importance of digital surveillance to gather individual health information due to the global pandemic caused by the new COVID-19 disease. This paper analyses its legal and ethical implications at the interface between the individual right to privacy and the collective interests of public health. We framed the discussion in law, deontology and utilitarianism. The lasted theories and human rights, especially privacy, are crucial in our argument. Health-derived dilemmas and efforts to solve them, especially by information technologies, bioethics and law, exist at these perspectives' interface. In particular, we analysed the intersection between autonomy, the right to privacy, and the so-called 'right to be forgotten' in the public health context. In other words, we studied the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of health data -a radical means of control over personal data established in Article 17 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Given the lack of specifics regarding collection and re-use of such data under the broad scope of public health purposes, implied consent does not address the issue of proportionality. We highlight legal safeguards' insufficiency, suggesting applying the 'right to be forgotten' according to an ethical interpretation.

The Right to be Forgotten: an Islamic Perspective

“…18 This idea is so entrenched in continental Europe that an individual's right to privacy would even trump another individual's right to property, even when one willingly compromises their privacy (Whitman, 2004). 19 Seen from this perspective, the right to be forgotten is considered essential for realizing and consolidating individual honor and autonomy, not only by maintaining a dignified image in society, but also by exercising what has been described as the right to "informational self-determination" (Correia et al, 2021b). In a powerful expression of the centrality of dignity in Europe, it is argued that while individuals can be free to surrender their liberty, they are not free to surrender their dignity (cited in Whitman, 2004Whitman, : 1193.…”

“…17 In this sense, public nudity is an exercise of this control over one's image and does not entail a surrender of privacy when practiced in certain European countries; e.g. Germany(Whitman, 2004).18 Here, some people have gone so far as to even reject keeping anonymized personal data without the consent of the concerned individuals on similar grounds(Correia, Rêgo, and Nunes, 2021b).…”

Preparation and validation of the instrument “QualiAPS digital—Brazil” for assessing digital health care in primary health care: a required tool

“…In the dimensions “Resources,” “Organizational” and “Short-Term Results,” the proposed indicators address crucial aspects for assessing important challenges for the implementation of digital health, such as, for example, infrastructure and coverage; precariousness of health work; convergence with the biomedical model, ethical and political aspects; implementation of advanced technologies; patient acceptance and end-user training in relation to these technologies. These challenges were revealed in various studies ( 74 – 76 ). The health computerization process is occurring worldwide.…”