TÜRKİYE’DE BİREYLERİN COVID-19 DÖNEMİNDE KULLANILAN ULUSAL TEMAS TAKİP UYGULAMASINA İLİŞKİN ENDİŞELERİ

Year 2024, Volume: 14 Issue: 3, 735 - 752, 01.07.2024

Ü. Laçin Yalçınkaya Cem Sütcü İhsan Eken

https://doi.org/10.7456/tojdac.1473413

Abstract

Temas takip uygulamaları, COVID-19 salgınıyla mücadele amacıyla dünyanın birçok ülkesinde kullanılmıştır. Ancak bu uygulamaların meşruiyeti, veri mahremiyeti adına taşıdıkları riskler sebebiyle, geniş çevrelerce tartışılmıştır. Söz konusu dönemde, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Sağlık Bakanlığı da Hayat Eve Sığar (HES) adlı uygulamayı kullanıma sunmuştur. Ancak uygulama, veri gizliliği ve insan hakları alanlarında çalışan uzmanlardan yaygın şekilde eleştiri toplamıştır. Çalışma kapsamında, uzmanlar tarafından dile getirilen endişelerin, uygulamanın kullanıcıları tarafından taşınıp taşınmadıklarının anlaşılması amacıyla nicel bir araştırma tasarlanmıştır. Araştırmanın verisi; gönüllü onam vermiş 457 katılımcıdan, temas takip uygulamalarına ilişkin dünya çapında dile getirilen endişelerden hareketle yapılandırılmış bir ölçek kullanılarak - dönemin karantina koşulları uyarınca - çevrimiçi şekilde toplanmıştır. Bulgularımız Türkiye’de yaşayan bireylerin, sosyoekonomik durumlarından bağımsız olarak, HES uygulamasına ilişkin endişeler taşıdıklarını göstermektedir. Söz konusu endişeler artan dijital gözetim korkusu ve HES uygulamasının meşruluğuna duyulan güvensizlik olmak üzere iki ana kategori altında toplanmaktadır. Sonuçlardan hareketle, gelecekte karşılaşılabilecek sağlık krizlerinde temas takip uygulamalarından alınan faydanın artırılabilmesi için; uygulama mimarisinin bireylerin veri mahretmiyetine saygılı, merkezi olmayan, şeffaf ve denetlenebilir bir yapıda yeniden düzenlenmesini öneriyoruz.

Keywords

Temas Takip Uygulamaları, Dijital Gözetim, Veri Mahremiyeti, COVID-19

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.

Keywords

Contact tracing mobile applications, digital surveillance, data privacy, COVID-19

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