Pandemic digital disputes underline why firms need a foreign policy

FRENCH digital minister Cédric O on Tuesday became the first major government minister to publicly call for Google and Apple to weaken privacy protections around its coronavirus digital contact tracing system. The development underscores the apparently growing potential for businesses to become intertwined in international political issues in sometimes thorny political, human rights, technological and/or legal issues.

The criticism from the French government comes after a set-piece collaboration was started this month between the leading firms to develop technology, using an application programming interface, to enable digital contact tracing apps.

These will track contacts between users to try to help impede the spread of the coronavirus, yet include what Paris views as too restrictive limits on what data can be shared with public health authorities.