Apple plans to reopen its virtual stores across Europe as well as the return of its employees to the company's offices. At this time of reopening Apple will take certain hygiene safety measures, which includes the compulsory use of face masks and temperature control on shoplifting, a measure that is in line with European data protection law.
The German case and its involvement in Spain and Europe
In Germany, where Apple has already opened its stores, i The regional data protection office has launched an investigation at ambient door temperatures.
As reported by Bloomberg Law, the the investigation is still ongoing:
The office wants to know if the temperature controls are breaking the standards the data protection law, said Ulrike Muller, spokesman for the Hesse Information Protection Commission. There are no results of the investigation yet and the office is in contact with other German data protection authorities, Muller said.
Managing a health item automatically, though it can create excellent clients, can lead to discrimination or discrimination.
In Spain, the Spanish Data Protection Center is already pointing to the need for these practices follow the current rules and respect privacy demographic data while avoiding discrimination.
The AEPD has already voiced its concern about the use of these devices and the need to have pre-existing guidelines for health authorities before proceeding with their implementation. The use of cameras or other devices to record human temperatures includes the treatment of special categories of relevant data to respect ethical principles, the limit of purpose and accuracy.
[…] you cannot take personal health data and treat it impartially by any manager of a public place because believe they are the best for your customers or users. In these cases, there is a risk of discrimination, discrimination, and possibly the public dissemination of health information.
On the other hand, in the same text, the AEPD also states that, although the flu is a COVID-19 symptom, it is important to pay attention to asymptomatic infections, as well as many others. other reasons that can provide fever Man.
Fever is one of the clinical evidence associated with the symptomatic Coronavirus, but it should also be considered that the percentage of people with the disease is high and high temperatures can be associated with other pathologies. […] the use of these systems may result in a a false sense of security that makes contact with really infected people.
At present, both the German office investigations and the directions and directions of the Spanish AEPD are in the initial stages. While we wait for the development of events, as well as the various stages of lack of control, we will see how to control temperatures, or when they should be done, at institutions, services, transportation, etc. .
