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In Dr. Mei-Po Kwan’s talk on the ethics of spatial data privacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, she emphasizes how compounding identities and vulnerabilities influence data privacy and disease mitigation. She frames her research around five main themes:
She begins by illuminating how geographic research offers an opportunity to uplift the experiences of the most vulnerable communities, especially when research is done in confidential collaboration with these communities. Kwan explores the challenges of spatial data privacy, especially in regards to cultural sentiments towards government surveillance and public willingness to support contact tracing initiatives. The Modifiable Areal Unit and Uncertain Geographic Context problems show how aggregation of data in different countries/contexts makes it challenging to apply a single contact tracing program to all people around the world. In an increasing global and interconnect world, social interactions matter (especially in this context of disease transmission), making it even more valuable to trace the spread of COVID-19 across countries. By providing the examples of publicly-available data of individual COVID presence in China, vs. COVID data aggregated to the county level in the U.S., it becomes challenging to understand disease spread with such disparate units.
In terms of spatial privacy data, Kwan explores the messiness of coordinating individual, communal, and governmental ethics with data privacy. Because people from different cultures have different values about their data privacy, we are best served by taking a “robust” look at data privacy and upholding the practical and critical ethics of GIS research. By bringing a critical lens to GIS research, our work can have a larger, more beneficial impact for those who are most vulnerable.
We can boil down the potentially harmful components of spatial data (publicly-available GPS tracks for individuals) into more helpful components (non-specific bluetooth locations to tell you when someone with COVID-19 is in your vicinity or when a space is less crowded) that can help save lives. Similarly, these solutions need to come from the community and cannot be a top-down approach that alienates those who are already vulnerable. Amongst researchers, we need a robust code of ethics that are enforced in order to build trust with vulnerable communities. Geospatial research offers immense potential to uplift the voices of those who are left behind in traditional governmental policies, but also a risk in making these communities more vulnerable. By building trust and committing to using data only for its expressed purpose, we can build infrastructure to reduce the effects of disasters on vulnerable populations in the future. Going forward, building social and physical environments that support underrepresented communities can go a long way in improving resilience in times of disaster.