Security News > 2020 > April > How technology can identify a "safe" workforce and protect privacy post-pandemic
As policymakers and business leaders grapple with how to restart the economy after the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, MIT Professor Alex Pentland is advocating for the use of digital tools that certify a person's health status to create "Safe" environments for workers and customers-while also protecting people's personal privacy.
Privacy advocates have voiced concerns about how that data will be used and by whom, as well as how and where it's stored.
"Digital tools are an important part of the solution to create a safe workforce that will help reopen the country, but patient privacy shouldn't be sacrificed as a result," said Pentland, who is also the director of MIT Connection Science.
"A safe workforce could be cleared to go back to work in front-of-house, public-facing jobs, which would allow companies, governments, and hospitals to hire workers who are safer-both for the customers but also for themselves," Pentland said.
Countries like Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore have certified a group of safe workers to restart their economies, Pentland said.