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Passive Data Use for Ethical Digital Public Health Surveillance in a Postpandemic World
John L Kilgallon1,2, Ishaan Ashwini Tewarie1,3,4,5, Marike L D Broekman1,4,5
1Computational Neurosciences Outcomes Center, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
Journal of Medical Internet Research
|February 15, 2022
Summary
Ethical considerations are paramount for post-pandemic disease tracking using mobile phone data. This study explores informed consent, privacy, equity, and ownership challenges in digital public health surveillance.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Digital Health Ethics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The post-pandemic era necessitates novel, ethical disease tracking methods.
- Ubiquitous mobile phones generate passive data valuable for public health surveillance.
- Ethical concerns, rather than pragmatism, dominate public discourse on disease tracking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address the ethical challenges of using passive mobile phone data for digital public health surveillance.
- To explore four key areas of ethical opportunity and challenge: informed consent, privacy, equity, and ownership.
- To inform future health policy decisions by examining historical and moral frameworks.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of historical pandemics and current moral frameworks.
- Analysis of ethical considerations in digital public health surveillance.
- Identification of ethical opportunities and challenges in passive data use.
Main Results:
- Passive mobile data offers potential for disease tracking but raises significant ethical questions.
- Informed consent, privacy, equity, and data ownership are critical ethical dimensions.
- A comprehensive ethical discussion is lacking for digital public health surveillance.
Conclusions:
- Establishing ethical guidelines for passive data use is crucial for effective post-pandemic disease surveillance.
- Addressing concerns of consent, privacy, equity, and ownership is vital for public trust and adoption.
- Proactive ethical deliberation is needed to avoid past mistakes in public health policy.
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