Democracy and the politicization of personal health data: the Norwegian Smittestopp case

In early 2020, at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, many countries developed and introduced contact-tracing apps. These apps use one or more of several cell phone capabilities to notify citizens when they should enter self-quarantine because of close contact with an infected individual. Norway released a contact tracing app called Smittestopp in April 2020 which, though initially widely used, was also met with criticism for the way it handled personal health data. Shortly after Amnesty International issued a press release calling the app a surveillance technology, it was rescinded, and a different solution developed. This paper discusses Smittestopp as an example of the politicization …