School of Information Sciences

Bashir and Sharma author article in Nature Medicine on privacy protection and COVID-19

Masooda Bashir
Masooda Bashir, Associate Professor

iSchool Associate Professor Masooda Bashir and Informatics PhD student Tanusree Sharma have published a paper, "Use of Apps in the COVID-19 Response and the Loss of Privacy Protection," in Nature Medicine. In the paper, they examine how digital surveillance used to contain the spread of COVID-19 may impact privacy rights.

As the world deals with the effects of the pandemic, some countries have launched tracking apps for their citizenry. Common functionalities of the apps are live maps and updates of confirmed cases; real-time location-based alerts; systems for monitoring home isolation and quarantine; and education about COVID-19.

Bashir and Sharma examined fifty of the apps available in the Google Play Store that were developed specifically for COVID-19 and found that the majority of the apps require permission for numerous types of access to users' mobile devices. Only sixteen of the apps indicate that the user's data will be made anonymous, encrypted, and secured and will be transmitted online and reported only in an aggregated format.

According to the researchers, "What is disconcerting is that these apps are continuously collecting and processing highly sensitive personally identifiable information, such as health information, location, and direct identifiers (e.g., name, age, email address, and voter/national identification). Governments' use of such tracking technology—and the possibilities for how they might use it after the pandemic—is chilling."

Bashir and Sharma endorse the development of policies, mathematical models, and technological measures to protect data being collected. They also stress the importance of transparency in promoting how data can help contain the spread of COVID-19 while ensuring that civil liberties are protected.

Sharma focuses on research concerning information security and privacy from data-driven and forensic approaches. She received her BS in information technology from Jahangirnagar University in Bangladesh. Prior to starting her PhD program, Sharma worked on a European Union-funded project in Bangladesh.

Bashir's research interests lie at the interface of information technology, human psychology, and society; especially how privacy, security, and trust intersect from a psychological point of view with information systems. At Illinois, she serves as the director of Social Sciences in Engineering Research in the College of Engineering and holds appointments in the Information Trust Institute, Coordinated Science Laboratory, and Beckman Institute. Before coming to Illinois, Bashir worked for several years as a systems analyst, technical trainer, manager, and global manager for a number of corporations in Silicon Valley, including Lotus and IBM. She holds degrees in mathematics, computer science, and psychology and earned her PhD in psychology from Purdue University.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool researchers present at CSCW 2025

Several faculty, students, and recent grads will present their research at the 28th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2025), which will be held October 18–22 in Bergen, Norway. The online portion of the conference will be held on October 10. 

Get to know Jade Carthans, BSIS student

Jade Carthans is interested in how human-centered design, machine learning, and data analytics can come together to solve critical problems that impact organizations and individuals. She gained firsthand experience in these areas through internships with Microsoft and State Farm.

Jade Carthans

Downie appointed executive associate dean

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Professor J. Stephen Downie has been appointed executive associate dean. In this role, he will work closely with Interim Dean Emily Knox to realize the iSchool's strategic goals and objectives. He also will provide leadership for the internal administration of the School, coordinate the work of associate deans and assigned staff, and facilitate faculty affairs.

Stephen Downie

Join the iSchool at the 2025 ALISE annual conference

Join iSchool faculty, staff, and students for the annual conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), which will take place from October 6–8 in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme of the 2025 conference is "Decolonising Pedagogies: Agency, Identity, Practices."

School of Information Sciences

501 E. Daniel St.

MC-493

Champaign, IL

61820-6211

Voice: (217) 333-3280

Fax: (217) 244-3302

Email: ischool@illinois.edu

Back to top