The COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t just threaten people’s health. It is also threatening people’s civil liberties across the globe. Even before this crisis, democracy was on the decline worldwide. According to Freedom House, since 2006 nearly twice as many countries become less democratic than have seen their democracies improve.
The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to accelerate this troubling trend. While restrictions on freedom of assembly are probably inevitable under the circumstances, many countries have gone well beyond this in terms of restricting democratic liberties.
These restrictions can be roughly grouped into four categories: (1) enhanced surveillance powers, (2) suspension of rights, (3) control over information; and (4) delayed elections. Here are some examples of each of them. They are mostly drawn from the very informative data-base, “The Covid-19 Civic Freedom Tracker”, maintained by The International Center for Not-For-Profit Law.
Enhanced Surveillance: There is a legitimate need for the government to make sure that contagious people are following quarantine rules. However, this need can easily be used to justify an ever-expanding surveillance state that might not be dismantled once the crisis has subsided.
In China, citizens of hundreds of cities have been required to install tracking software on their smartphones. The software shares location data with the police. In Israel, the police are now allowed to use cellphone data to track the locations of those suspected of being infected. No court order is required. In Poland, the government is using facial recognition technology to track people’s movements.
Here in the United States, an army of drones will soon be monitoring compliance with social distancing orders. The mayor of Elizabeth, New Jersey has announced: “Some may notice drones monitoring your neighborhoods. These drones are going to alert people to move away from each other if they are congregating . . . Summonses HAVE AND WILL CONTINUE to be issued to those found in violation. Fines are up to $1000. You have been advised.” This is a drop in the bucket compared to China though. My fellow Forbes contributor Zak Doffman has written about China’s vast fleet of drones enforcing quarantines.
It is certainly important to contain the spread of COVID-19. But once governments gain new powers, they don’t always give them back. The combined technology of tracking apps, facial recognition software, and drones can give a government virtually unlimited power to track its citizens. The aggressive deployment of these technologies must be held in check by sunset provisions, clear rules against their abuse, a system of independent oversight, and transparency.
Suspension of Rights: Numerous countries have suspended fundamental democratic rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom of movement and protections against warrantless searches and warrantless arrests. While there are obvious reasons for limiting gatherings during this crisis, that does not justify their wholesale suspension. As I discussed in a recent post, in the United States the various stay at home orders issued so far are probably constitutional because they are narrowly tailored to further the compelling governmental interest in controlling the spread of the virus. That is a far cry from declaring that the right to association has been suspended altogether. And warrantless searches and arrests are an arrow through the heart of a democratic society. The requirement that warrants be issued by an independent judiciary is a core protection against tyranny.
Control of Information: Numerous countries have made it illegal for the media or individuals to publicize information about the coronavirus without government pre-clearance. For example, the Indian state of Maharashtra, with a population of 114 million people, has put such a restriction in place. In Thailand, journalists can face up to five years in prison for failing to correct what the government deems to be incorrect information about the coronavirus. Similarly, in Hungary, journalists and others face up to five years imprisonment for “distorting” information about the disease. In Egypt, the government blocks or limits access to news websites that it deems to be spreading false information about the pandemic.
While under certain limited circumstances, governments may need to prevent the spread of false information, this sort of unchecked power by the government to punish journalists and others for spreading information that the government disagrees with is a recipe for totalitarianism.
Delayed Elections: There are numerous examples of delayed elections. Because of the dangers of public gatherings, some level of delay might be necessary. But any such delays cannot be at the sole discretion of the incumbent government. Also, they must be accompanied by a strong effort to arrange for voting by mail or another way to vote safely as soon as possible. Without elections, what is a democracy?
Nothing written here is meant to imply the COVID-19 pandemic is not extremely serious or that strong government action is unwise. But the more frightening the situation, the greater the danger is that governments will take advantage of people’s fears to augment their own power, stifle any opposition, silence their critics, and maintain a monopoly on information. There has never been a more important time to heed the aphorism that the price of democracy is eternal vigilance.
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