On Friday, Apple and Google announced they were collaborating on a new Bluetooth technology to help trace the spread of the coronavirus.
According to Fast Company, the technology would span operating systems and remember all the people you come into 10-15 feet of contact with. If any of those other mobile users have opted in, and later tests positive for COVID-19, you would get an alert and advice on further medical steps.
This system, coined ‘contact tracing,’ boasts promising strategies for halting the spread of the virus, but also poses concerns about privacy and security for users.
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For those who find this software genius, creepy, or somewhere in between, here are answers to some of your questions about how it works.
Has contact tracing been used before?
Epidemiologists have been using data to trace the path of the coronavirus spread even before Google and Apple’s announcement.
According to a recent study, contract tracing can stop the momentum of a disease if the effort is large enough to track 50% to 60% of the population.
"Investigators can trace the route of transmission using mobile location data combined with other information, such as credit card transactions. Analysis can determine where a patient made contact with others who visited the same locations or made purchases at the same places," writes Kate Kaye, fastcompany.com.
The government has long had eyes on mobile location data to help and spent time meeting with Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft too to explore options, according to The Washington Post.
Do I have a choice on using the software?
Apple and Google are rolling out the technology in two different waves, but don’t worry — both will require a user to opt-in first.
The first release, estimated to become available in May, will be an application programming interface that will use apps from public health authorities, according to Apple's press release. Both Android and iOS users can download the apps from their respective app stores, but the different interfaces will work in tandem.
Eventually, the companies aim to build this technology into underlying platforms that won’t require an app. Users will still have a choice in using the tech.
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What happens if I come into contact with someone who tests positive?
The app works in a way that broadcasts and receives a set of crypto-code to identify the mobile phone users around them.
If at any point someone tests positive to the coronavirus, they would log that on a secure server managed by Apple and Google. This server would alert you if you had been within a potential contact zone with that mobile user at any point in the past 14 days, based on the crypto-code exchange.
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Google and Apple’s apps will reportedly provide information within their application to direct users with instructions, whether that be to check in with a medical provider, get tested, or self quarantine.
What data does this technology collect?
Apple and Google recognize the privacy concerns that this Orwellian type of platform may raise.
"Privacy, transparency, and consent are of utmost importance in this effort, and we look forward to building this functionality in consultation with interested stakeholders. We will openly publish information about our work for others to analyze," they promise.
Spokespeople for the app say that no personal identification data or location data is transmitted through their contact tracing technology, according to Fast Company.
Aren’t there third party apps that do the same thing?
Yes, but the issue is whether enough people are using them to be effective.
According to Forbes, Singapore released an app called TraceTogether that uses similar Bluetooth technology to track a coronavirus carrier's contacts. Despite its government backing, only 20% of the population has downloaded the app.
"In order for TraceTogether to be effective, we need something like three-quarters—if not everyone—of the population to have it," the country's development minister Lawrence Wong said. "Then we can really use that as an effective contact-tracing tool."
Google and Apple hope that their software will do what many applications cannot: bridge software systems to allow no barriers for tracking, regardless of what kind of operating system a user has.
The question remains, will those users trust Google and Apple’s contact tracing technology enough to download it?
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