Big Brother wants to track your location and health data. And that's not all bad

Public health experts say that collecting personal data may be the only way to analyse information on the massive scale needed. But how that information is used and by whom worries some privacy advocates. — Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

A growing mix of health and technology experts are convinced that if the United States is to ever effectively track the coronavirus and slow its spread, then both self-reported and more surreptitiously gathered personal data – a mix of information about location, travel, symptoms and health conditions – must be gathered from millions of Americans.

With the pandemic far from over, public health needs are paramount. Public health experts say that collecting personal data may be the only way to analyse information on the massive scale needed. But how that information is used and by whom worries some privacy advocates.