03888nas a2200589   4500008004100000020001400041245010600055210006900161260001500230520215400245100001702399700002302416700002802439700002102467700002202488700001802510700002702528700002302555700001702578700001602595700001802611700002102629700002602650700002102676700002102697700002302718700001802741700001702759700002102776700001802797700001702815700001902832700001702851700002902868700001902897700002102916700001802937700002302955700002202978700002003000700001903020700001903039700002303058700001803081700002403099700001703123700001803140700002203158700002603180700002703206856006503233       2021                        eng d  a1572-843900aGive more data, awareness and control to individual citizens, and they will help COVID-19 containment0 aGive more data awareness and control to individual citizens and   c2021/02/023 aThe rapid dynamics of COVID-19 calls for quick and effective tracking of virus transmission chains and early detection of outbreaks, especially in the “phase 2” of the pandemic, when lockdown and other restriction measures are progressively withdrawn, in order to avoid or minimize contagion resurgence. For this purpose, contact-tracing apps are being proposed for large scale adoption by many countries. A centralized approach, where data sensed by the app are all sent to a nation-wide server, raises concerns about citizens’ privacy and needlessly strong digital surveillance, thus alerting us to the need to minimize personal data collection and avoiding location tracking. We advocate the conceptual advantage of a decentralized approach, where both contact and location data are collected exclusively in individual citizens’ “personal data stores”, to be shared separately and selectively (e.g., with a backend system, but possibly also with other citizens), voluntarily, only when the citizen has tested positive for COVID-19, and with a privacy preserving level of granularity. This approach better protects the personal sphere of citizens and affords multiple benefits: it allows for detailed information gathering for infected people in a privacy-preserving fashion; and, in turn this enables both contact tracing, and, the early detection of outbreak hotspots on more finely-granulated geographic scale. The decentralized approach is also scalable to large populations, in that only the data of positive patients need be handled at a central level. Our recommendation is two-fold. First to extend existing decentralized architectures with a light touch, in order to manage the collection of location data locally on the device, and allow the user to share spatio-temporal aggregates—if and when they want and for specific aims—with health authorities, for instance. Second, we favour a longer-term pursuit of realizing a Personal Data Store vision, giving users the opportunity to contribute to collective good in the measure they want, enhancing self-awareness, and cultivating collective efforts for rebuilding society.1 aNanni, Mirco1 aAndrienko, Gennady1 aBarabasi, Albert-Laszlo1 aBoldrini, Chiara1 aBonchi, Francesco1 aCattuto, Ciro1 aChiaromonte, Francesca1 aComandé, Giovanni1 aConti, Marco1 aCoté, Mark1 aDignum, Frank1 aDignum, Virginia1 aDomingo-Ferrer, Josep1 aFerragina, Paolo1 aGiannotti, Fosca1 aGuidotti, Riccardo1 aHelbing, Dirk1 aKaski, Kimmo1 aKertész, János1 aLehmann, Sune1 aLepri, Bruno1 aLukowicz, Paul1 aMatwin, Stan1 aJiménez, David, Megías1 aMonreale, Anna1 aMorik, Katharina1 aOliver, Nuria1 aPassarella, Andrea1 aPasserini, Andrea1 aPedreschi, Dino1 aPentland, Alex1 aPianesi, Fabio1 aPratesi, Francesca1 aRinzivillo, S1 aRuggieri, Salvatore1 aSiebes, Arno1 aTorra, Vicenc1 aTrasarti, Roberto1 avan den Hoven, Jeroen1 aVespignani, Alessandro  uhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-020-09572-w