USE OF SURVEILLANCE TOOLS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC PROCESS: COMPARISON OF TURKEY AND CHINA

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, which alarmed the whole world as a global epidemic, has an important process that changes social life. In this process, information technologies have an important place in the fight against the epidemic. In the epidemic, smartphone applications that enable people to obtain location information, the use of drones, artificial intelligence compatible robots, personal information obtained through big data reveal an intense technological surveillance process. The legitimacy of the surveillance tools used to prevent the epidemic,cause concerns in the context of the concepts of individual freedom and privacy. In this study, it is aimed to examine the different surveillance tools used by the Turkish and Chinese governments to control the epidemic. Thus, the concept of social control through surveillance gains importance. In this regard, together with the positive effects of the surveillance tools used in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the problems brought by surveillance are evaluated by making the necessary literature review.