Civil liberties or public health, or civil liberties and public health? Using surveillance technologies to tackle the spread of COVID-19

Public health and civil liberties

The opinion pieces that constitute this month’s ‘Talking Point’ address the old conflict between the enforcement of public health measures and the inevitable infringements of individual rights and liberties that are the result. The task of the ‘neutral commentator’ is made difficult by the fact that the authors are not particularly at odds with each other. George Annas argues that compulsory en...

Civil liberties and public good: detention of tuberculous patients and the Public Health Act 1984.

On 30 August 1998, the Mail on Sunday, under the headline "TB refugee 'must be held in hospital"', described the case of a Somalian man who had been "ordered by a court to remain in hospital for six months to prevent him spreading a highly infectious deadly disease". That disease was tuberculosis and a court order had been issued "after the man had twice staggered into Northwick Park Hospital i...

The politics of AIDS: compulsory state powers, public health, and civil liberties.

The continuing tensions between individual rights and public health. Talking Point on public health versus civil liberties.

Civil liberties and economic development

Skepticism prevails among a substantial number of economists over a possible connection between civil liberties and the level of economic activity. Until now, empirical research on economic growth has found mixed evidence on the influence of civil liberties. Disaggregation of the Freedom House Civil Liberties Index allows a fresh empirical look at the effect of human rights on long-term growth ...