Digital Contact Tracing: Examining the Effects of Understanding and Release Organization on Public Trust

TL;DR

This study investigates how understanding privacy measures and the organization releasing COVID-19 contact tracing apps influence public trust, finding no significant correlation between these factors and trust levels among US adults.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that neither understanding of privacy protections nor the app's releasing organization significantly impacts public trust in contact tracing apps.

Findings

No correlation between privacy understanding and trust.

No difference in trust based on private or public release.

Public trust remains unaffected by organizational source.

Abstract

Contact tracing has existed in various forms for a very long time. With the rise of COVID-19, the concept has become increasingly important to help slow the spread of the virus. One approach to modernizing contact tracing is to introduce applications that detect all close contacts without individuals having to interact knowingly. 101 United States adults were surveyed in June of 2022 regarding their perceptions and trust of COVID-19 contact tracing applications. We see no definitive correlation between an individual's understanding of privacy protection procedures for contact tracing applications and their willingness to trust such an application. We also see that the release of the application by a private entity like Google-Apple or by a public entity like the United States Federal Government has no significant correlation with a person's trust in the application.