Collateral damages in times of pandemic: concerns about the use of personal data to combat COVID-19

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18316/redes.v8i2.6770

Keywords:

Personal Data, Privacy, Data Processing, Collateral Damages, Pandemic.

Abstract

Since the end of 2019, the new coronavirus pandemic has been infecting and killing thousands of people around the world. To reduce the spread of the disease, governments have adopted several measures, many of which involve the processing of personal data to map possible infected people and to identify those who are not complying with the quarantine period. In this scenario, the present work aimed to analyze the legal issues that involve the treatment of personal information by the public power, drafting the injuries that such treatment can cause to the data subjects, seeking to identify if there are limits to the treatment and disclosure this data in situations like the current one. It was assumed that the right to privacy may be restricted when the collective interest so requires, however, the use of personal data by States for the purpose of health protection may occur in compliance with fundamental rights. A bibliographic/documentary research was carried out on doctrine, journalistic articles and national and foreign legislation on the subject. It was concluded that, through the observance of certain principles, respect for privacy can and must live with the measures of treatment of personal data used to control the spread of the pandemic and monitor patients. However, it is a very arduous task to establish the balance point in the treatment of personal data for the benefit of the collective interest, so that the limits need to be constructed in the analysis of the specific case.

Author Biographies

Jéssica Andrade Modesto, Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Mestranda em Direito Público pela Universidade Federal de Alagoas. Advogada. Servidora Pública Federal.

Marcos Ehrhardt Junior, Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Advogado. Doutor em Direito pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE). Professor de Direito Civil da Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL) e do Centro Universitário CESMAC. Editor da Revista Fórum de Direito Civil (RFDC). Vice-Presidente do Instituto Brasileiro de Direito Civil (IBDCIVIL). Presidente da Comissão de Enunciados do Instituto Brasileiro de Direito de Família (IBDFAM). Associado do Instituto Brasileiro de Estudos em Responsabilidade Civil (IBERC) e Membro Fundador do Instituto Brasileiro de Direito Contratual – IBDCont.

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Published

2020-04-15

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2020)

Section

Articles

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