With the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday raising the COVID-19 alert to level 3 for the whole of Taiwan, it has become more likely that the government might implement emergency measures that would impose a full nationwide lockdown, similar to many countries around the world.
If it does enforce a lockdown, the government would have to strike the right balance: implementing proportionate restrictions sufficient to slow the spread of the virus without unnecessarily infringing upon peoples’ fundamental freedoms and basic human rights.
As fear permeates a society during a national crisis, the public would likely demand that the government do “whatever it takes” to keep them safe. With a close eye on opinion polls and wary of being blamed for “doing too little, too late,” the temptation for governments is to take drastic measures: better to overreact than to underreact. This would be a terrible mistake.
Before COVID-19 turned the world upside down, people living in free and open democratic societies were looking on aghast at China’s descent into a digital dictatorship. House arrest, mobile phone surveillance, facial recognition — China’s sophisticated surveillance apparatus tracks every member of the public around the clock.
Yet, to deal with the pandemic, countries around the world, including Taiwan, have introduced “track-and-trace” systems that exploit mobile phones’ GPS signals to track people under mandatory isolation to help ensure that they do not leave their homes. Anyone who ventures outside their quarantine limits or fails to “check in” receives a knock on the door from officials. In China, this is called “having a cup of tea.”
Those infected with COVID-19 have location data from their phones analyzed and their movements pored over.
Under the level 3 alert, all shops, restaurants and public buildings are mandated to record the details of each visitor.
Although the motivation for these measures is benign, the nuts and bolts of the system is essentially the same as in China. With such a sophisticated surveillance system in place, can Taiwanese be certain that a future government would not be tempted to abuse the system for nefarious means? While the measures could be justified as a situation-specific “necessary evil,” temporary powers have an uncanny tendency of becoming permanent. Politicians and civil servants do not easily relinquish new powers.
A good example is the sweeping surveillance powers implemented by the US government during the blind panic following the deadly terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The US’ Patriot Act was sold as a temporary measure, but was repeatedly extended and remained law until last year, despite whistle-blower Edward Snowden in 2013 lifting the lid on the extent to which the US used its new powers to conduct mass surveillance. Indeed, Snowden has repeatedly voiced concern over invasive track-and-trace measures adopted by democracies amid the pandemic.
Countries that have implemented successful vaccination programs and are now coming out of their lockdowns are discussing the introduction of “vaccination passports,” which might be required to go to a movie theater or restaurant, let alone travel abroad.
In reaction to a crisis, there is a danger that an Orwellian control system is put in place that people later live to regret. Nobody would be more happy than the Chinese Communist Party if democracies adopt the “Chinese model.”
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