Pandemics and the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information: Issues concerning the Restriction on the Right to Privacy in Emergencies

This article focuses on issues which need to be considered in aiming to ensure both the effectiveness of infectious disease control measures and the protection of the right to privacy from the following perspectives. (1) Issues regarding the restriction of the right to privacy in emergency situations, including (i) the types of measures taken in emergency situations and issues with respect to the restriction of the right to privacy in emergency situations, (ii) the normalisation, constancy and fixation of exceptional measures in emergency situations, (iii) dual-use and use for purposes different from those originally intended, (iv) acquisition of secondary information and the emergence of unexpected situations (e.g. the applicability of "body temperature" to special care-required personal information and the acquisition of secondary information associated with the measurement of body temperature, and examples of mission creep); and (5) the need to respond to over-reaction without recognising the urgency of the situation. (2) Issues concerning privacy in countermeasures against infectious diseases, including (i) the procedures for requesting and disclosing personal information and privacy, (ii) the obligation to cooperate in active epidemiological investigations of specific patients and others based on the amended Infectious Diseases Control Act and restrictions on the right to privacy, (iii) the applicability of personal information concerning the acceptance of tests and other examinations as special care-required personal information, and (iv) the need to respond to over-reaction without recognising the urgency of the situation. (ii) the necessity of the implementation of information security management measures in relation to infectious disease countermeasures. (3) Issues concerning the use of technology for the purpose of countermeasures against infectious diseases and privacy, including (i) the use of GPS location information, (ii) considerations required to resolve concerns in the introduction and spread of contact confirmation applications, (iii) the acquisition of biometric information and the use of biometrics, and (iv) sewage epidemiological surveys and privacy (privacy of drainage).