Trading Privacy for Social Good: Did America Unite During COVID-19?

Anindya Ghose, Beibei Li, Meghanath M. Y., Chenshuo Sun, Natasha Zhang Foutz, Joshua Anton

Abstract: Description Contact tracing and location tracking are two prime examples of non-therapeutic interventions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While many understand the importance of trading personal privacy for the social good, others are alarmed by privacy concerns and potential for surveillance. We analyze massive individual level location data with over 11 billion records from five 'Blue' (Democrat) and five 'Red' (Republican) cities. We find a significant decreasing trend of opt-out of location sharing, especially amongst the Democrat cities. People who practice social distancing are also less likely to opt-out, especially amongst the Democrat cities. High-income populations and males are more likely to opt-out. Overall, this research demonstrates that people in both Blue and Red cities generally formed a unified front in sacrificing personal privacy for the social good, while simultaneously exhibiting a divergence in the extent of such a sacrifice along the lines of political divide, social distancing compliance, and demographics.