CONCERNS OF THE PEOPLE IN TURKEY REGARDING THE NATIONAL CONTACT TRACING MOBILE APPLICATION OF THE COVID-19 PERIOD

Abstract

Contact tracing mobile applications (CTMAs) were used by many governments worldwide within their pandemic response strategies during COVID-19. Although they promise essential benefits for public health, CTMAs are also being widely debated since they pose risks regarding personal data privacy. The Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health deployed a CTMA called the HES app, to complement the manual contact tracing efforts. However, since its release, it has garnered significant criticism from experts advocating data privacy and human rights. By reviewing the available literature, we designed a quantitative research to explore if the individuals living in Turkey also have the concerns expressed by the experts regarding the HES application. Due to lockdown measures, we collected the data through an online survey, which we developed based on the main points of concern voiced globally about the concept of CTMA from 457 participants. According to our findings, worries regarding the HES application do exist and are prevalent among individuals living in Turkey, independent of their socio-economic status. The concerns can be grouped under two main categories, namely, having concerns about invasive digital surveillance, and the lack of belief in the legitimacy of the HES application. Therefore, we suggest that the application’s architecture be reorganized in a decentralized, transparent, auditable, privacy-preserving manner for future health crises to better serve public health.