Brazilians take part in a protest against president Jair Bolsonaro and his management of the COVID-19 outbreak, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 31 January 2021, Cris Faga/NurPhoto
January 2021 in the Americas: A free expression round up produced by IFEX's Regional Editor Paula Martins, based on IFEX member reports and news from the region.
Identifying vulnerabilities in ‘digital solutions’ developed in the fight against COVID
In late January, IFEX member Fundación Karisma launched a report that documents and systematizes the vulnerabilities found and reported by the organisation’s K+LAB Digital Security and Privacy Laboratory during 2020.
According to the report, both the national and regional governments in Colombia reacted to the COVID pandemic with ‘digital solutions’ to complement other measures – mainly restrictions on movement and circulation. Apart from research into whether these technological solutions are effective, the fact that they revolve around the massive collection of personal data and data generated by devices (such as location on mobile phones) led K+LAB to focus on monitoring these applications. The objective was to verify if the processing of the collected data was done in a responsible and secure manner.