The COVID-19 pandemic spread more than just viral infection, with trends in surveillance presenting new concerns about personal data risk and other potential abuses. Personal data collection became part of the effort to neutralize COVID-19, with private tech organizations playing an outsized role in many processes.  “During the pandemic companies cooperated with governments to develop contact-tracing apps and tools and engaged in data-sharing agreements that were often murky,” says the Canadian Civil Liberties Association CCLA.