“Leading global experts contributed to the report, which offers clear guidance and recommendations on ethics and governance as digital technologies are developed to fight the pandemic: “Johns Hopkins University today released a comprehensive report to help government, technology developers, businesses, institutional leaders, and the public make responsible decisions around use of digital contact tracing technology, including smartphone apps and other tools, to fight COVID-19. Digital Contact Tracing for Pandemic Response—a report led by JHU’s Berman Institute for Bioethics in collaboration with the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins, as well as leading experts worldwide—highlights the ethical, legal, policy, and governance issues that must be addressed as digital contact tracing technologies, or DCTT, are developed and implemented. The report’s primary conclusions and recommendations advise that:

• Privacy should not outweigh public health goals and other values
• Big technology companies should not unilaterally set terms when such broad public interests are at stake
• Decisions about the technology and its uses will have to be constantly updated as new information becomes available

As officials in many countries strive to find a balance between respecting civil liberties and controlling the pandemic, the report offers clear, well-supported guidance for leaders as they consider deployment and use of these technologies, as well as the data they collect, store and share. Johns Hopkins will host a web briefing on the report and the broader conversation around testing and contact tracing at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/live…”