US lawmakers warn coronavirus contact-tracing is ripe for abusive surveillance

As tech firms lay the foundation for a potentially massive digital contact-tracing infrastructure, Washington is grappling with whether such technology can work without becoming a hulking, invasive surveillance system. — Dreamstime/TNS

WASHINGTON: It is a big promise from Silicon Valley to a nation looking for ways to be freed from home confinement: Smartphones could discreetly detect those who may have Covid-19 and nudge them to quarantine, blunting renewed outbreaks as Americans start to once again venture out.

But as tech firms lay the foundation for a potentially massive digital contact-tracing infrastructure, Washington is grappling with whether such technology can work without becoming a hulking, invasive surveillance system.