Singapore currently is developing a wearable device that may be issued to every resident as a way to facilitate contact tracing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, but the move has sparked public outcry from individuals concerned about their privacy. An online petition urging the public to reject its use has, to date, garnered more than 17,500 signatures.
Headlined “Singapore says ‘No’ to wearable devices for COVID-19 contact tracing”, the online petition describes the implementation of such devices as “blatant infringements upon our rights to privacy, personal space, and freedom of movement”. “All that is stopping the Singapore government from becoming a surveillance state is the advent and mandating the compulsory usage of such a wearable device. What comes next would be laws that state these devices must not be turned off [or] remain on a person at all times — thus, sealing our fate as a police state,” wrote Wilson Low, who started the petition on June 5.
Source: ZDNet
