Article content continued

“The problem is — all too often — the operational convenience and the cost reduction tends to take precedence over individual’s privacy,” she said.

She noted cameras that look for temperature might also be used to measure a person’s gait — the unique way they walk.

“Gait is a way of identifying an individual, the same as a fingerprint. Our gait is a biometric that is individual to each person,” said Polsky

“Once this little factoid is available — who else gets use of it, for what purpose?”

She said the vast majority of people agree to terms of services on apps without ever reading them, and that people are in effect giving consent without knowledge. She worries that the scope of those agreements will continue to broaden as people remain unaware.

Polsky notes that people could continue to sign away their privacy like never before, as they turn to the convenience and potential safety of technology.

“Now that the response to COVID has decimated national economies, governments are desperate to rebuild economies and diversify with technology, as if it is going to answer all of society’s ills and all of the budgetary problems and all the health care scheduling issues,” said Polsky.

“Technology is a tool is a tool — that is all. It is how it’s used or abused that determines its worth, and from whose perspective.”