ABSTRACT: This thesis will primarily investigate the ethics of developing technology as a tool for aiding public
safety and public health. Since recent technological advances have become more and more
pervasive, people’s personal data is consequently monitored through technologies such as social
media, tracking apps, and cameras. Therefore, this has given rise to worries about privacy and, in
particular, worries about people’s control over their personal information. In my project, I examine
some ethical considerations regarding the use of technology to monitor people’s private lives, in
order to contain health disasters such as a pandemic. More specifically, I focus on the Immuni app
currently being used in Italy with the aim of containing the spread of Covid-19. I explore
considerations that can help us find an equilibrium between personal privacy and the good of
public health. I also focus on the obligatoriness-voluntariness dichotomy that may arise when it
comes to downloading tracking apps. In this project, I assume the consequentialist moral theory
utilitarianism, and conduct my investigation from that perspective.
