Making the contact tracing effort mandatory, redux

Back in 2021, I wrote about the mobile app TraceTogether and its use during the COVID-19 pandemic. My rhetoric back then, in hindsight, was fiery; but I stand by what I said.

I had thought that this issue was behind us. However, last couple weeks, four entire years after I last mentioned it, the issue arose again in Parliament. A bill was passed - the Public Sector (Governance) Act (Amendment) Bill, which allows for sharing of citizens' data with bodies other than public agencies.

TraceTogether

During the debate, Opposition MP Kenneth Tiong brought up the fact that in 2021, Singaporeans discovered that data collected by TraceTogether could legally be shared with the police for the purposes of criminal investigation, and this had resulted in damage in terms of public trust. 

Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Jasmin Lau refuted this, and predictably, this led to a flurry of activity on my Facebook feed. Again, predictably, supports of the current ruling party, the PAP, stoutly re-iterated their trust in the Singapore Government, while supporters of the Opposition did the exact opposite.

Mostly incoherent sycophantic babbling on both sides, if I'm being honest. These days it feels like the most useless political opinions in the world can be found on Social Media. These political fanboys are nuts, and not even in a cool way.

My assertion back then

I was of the opinion that lives were at stake, and certain things such as privacy, had to take a back seat. I honestly do not consider there to be anything controversial about this statement, and would go so far to say that anyone who would knowingly endanger the lives of the public for the sake of their own privacy, is a selfish muppet.

Bring tracked.

Not that I suspect the Singapore Government to be the type to seize any opportunity to obsessively track its citizens like some kind of overbearing control freak Asian parent. However, the potential for abuse existed, no matter how small. The probability was not a non-zero value. But it's no exaggeration when I say, if the Singapore Government's efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 led to them being able to track my whereabouts for the rest of my life, it was a tradeoff I would have taken. Happily.

However...

Certain quarters started spouting some ignorant claptrap in support of the ruling party. They claimed that anyone who objected to having their data tracked back then, had something to hide. Anyone whose conscience was clear surely would not object to having their data tracked for the greater good.

Oh FFS, children.

It's a principle of privacy. Yes, I'm sure there were those who had plenty to hide, but generally, people were objecting out of principle and not because they were planning to commit acts of moral indecency. Anyone who can't see that, either isn't familiar with the concept of principles, or has none to begin with.

Form-filling.

I had to deal with this principle several years ago when I bought an insurance policy. An insurance agent came to my place and proceeded to have me fill out a form as a matter of routine. Among the questions in the form were gems such as "have you contracted HIV or any STDs in the past year?" and the agent actually asked me this question out loud. In front of my mother.

Wow. This bloody idiot, I swear to God.

The answer was "no", but even if the answer had been "yes", did she really think it was something I would have been comfortable sharing in front of my own goddamn mother? It's the principle of the thing. Whatever happened to professional discretion? Did she somehow think that no one should be allowed to keep personal secrets from their own mother?

So yes... personal privacy as a principle is very real.

Comparisons

It's no comparison, of course. While the principle is the same, the stakes are vastly different. In the case of COVID-19, it was a global pandemic where public health and safety were at stake. In the case of that shockingly indiscreet insurance agent, it was merely a case of bureaucracy. Yes, I'm aware that it could be a lot bigger than that, but it still isn't on the level of public health and safety.

While I value my personal privacy, I don't value it over the lives of others. I certainly do not value anyone's personal privacy over the lives of others, and am mystified at the possibility that anyone could feel otherwise.

It's 2026. This really should be the final time I speak on this.

Not-so-privately,
T___T