Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jan 6, 2023
Date Accepted: Sep 27, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Social and Ethical Challenges of the German COVID-19 Contact Tracing App – Results of a Qualitative Expert Survey
ABSTRACT
Background:
Since the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, governments worldwide have been using several technology-based systems and mobile applications to prevent infections. Internationally, digital contact tracing applications (DCT) are still seen as playing a key role in combating the pandemic. Their primary function is to convert pandemic-relevant information such as locations, distance bids, encounters, vaccination status or infections into data and share this data via mobile devices.
Objective:
The paper is divided into a theoretical and an empirical part. First, it is argued that the use of DCT points to a knowledge promise of Big Data that is accompanied by various social and ethical challenges which raise questions about the handling and further exploiting of sensitive data such as infections and vaccinations in the context of digital pandemic response. Second, the theoretically resulting dimensions are analyzed in greater depth by drawing on empirical data from a qualitative expert survey.
Methods:
For this purpose, results of a qualitative expert survey among experts from Germany from different scientific fields such as medicine, health sciences, sociology, ethics, legal science and informatics (n=19; length=21-81min), conducted between 2020-2021, are used. The interviews were transcribed and condensed into general statement patterns in a two-stage analysis process following the principles of grounded theory.
Results:
Three empirical dimensions have emerged: transparency, data sovereignty, and so-cial affiliation. While transparency is seen as a basis of trust into digital technologies that provides security through insights into data processing procedures by enabling civil control, data sovereignty is classified as a high value in the pandemic that protects people from an unwanted loss of (data) control. Social affiliation, in turn, underlines the idea of materialization of cultural ideas and values in digital technologies, emphasizing that algorithms and data-based dimensions such as distance bids or isolations are not only technologically mediated but also culturally framed.
Conclusions:
Our study clarifies that using DCT depends on a compromise between technology and the user. On the one hand, it is crucial to derive the best possible benefit from the technology used to prevent pandemics for the protection of all. On the other hand, the success of DCT requires that users retain control over their data and share it willingly.
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