Op-Ed co-authored by Professor Lisa Austin: Who controls reins of Big Tech’s COVID Alert app?

In an op-ed published in the Toronto Star, August 6, University of Toronto Professors Lisa Austin, Faculty of Law, David Lie, Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE), and Wendy H. Wong, Department of Political Science, write about the newly launched app, COVID Alert. 

The professors are also research leads at U of T's Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, led by Faculty of Law Professor Gillian Hadfield, SRI chair and director. 

Austin, Lie, and Wong write: 

"Ontario has just released a new app called COVID Alert that gives users notification of their potential exposure to the coronavirus.

It’s a useful tool in the fight against the pandemic. But it’s also a concerning indicator of the increasingly decisive role “Big Tech” plays in policy choices."

Read their Toronto Star op-ed