Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

Does the COVID-19 pandemic warrant giving the government access to our private personal data, in order to slow the spread of infection? Slovakia's new law giving the Health Ministry access to peronal information about our movements, based on mobile phone location data, has sparked controversy. In addition to questions about its effectiveness, IT security specialist Pavol Lupták believes the new legislation will place our personal data in danger of being exploited by hackers and profiteers. When Tomáš Koník recently moved with his family from their home village of Devinska Nova Ves to a small village in Austria, he had no idea that the two villages - which have been connected by a cycling bridge across the river Morava for the past eight years - would suddenly be cut off from each other, with the bridge now closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 epidemic.