From the Introduction [footnotes omitted]:

Delayed detection and reporting in recent epidemics such as Zika and Ebola have brought renewed attention to outbreak surveillance. In particular, the use of digital technologies to crowd-source and interpret volumes of public information from the Internet for signs of outbreaks—so-called event-based Internet surveillance (EBIS)—has received great interest because of its potential for early detection. The National Academy of Medicine suggests that new information technology, which has increased surveillance capacity even in low-resource settings, be fully exploited. The United Nations recommends that the World Health Organization (WHO) create an open platform to manage and analyze public data on unusual health events globally. Developing the capacity for event-based surveillance is also required under the 2005 International Health Regulations (2005 IHR), an international law that binds 196 states worldwide.

The growing significance of EBIS in global health raises questions concerning its efficacy, accessibility, and impact. Technical challenges, unreliable funding, institutional exclusivity, and legal shortcomings combine to generate uneven effects across the globe.