Tech giants Apple and Google have reportedly released the technology to automatically notify people if they have been exposed to individuals that have tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus. The technology was produced by the two tech giants to allow iPhones and Android smartphones to communicate.
AP News reports that tech giants Apple and Google released smartphone technology on Wednesday to notify users that they may have been in contact with individuals who have been exposed to the Wuhan coronavirus. 22 countries and several states in the United States are planning to build voluntary phone apps using their software.
The contact tracing system relies on Bluetooth wireless technology to detect when someone who downloaded the app has spent time near another app user who has tested positive for the virus.
Multiple governments have attempted to roll out their own phone apps since the beginning of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Many of the apps have faced technical issues and have failed to be widely adopted, they also often use GPS track user’s price locations which Apple and Google have banned from their new tools for privacy and security reasons.
Health agencies in Germany as well as in the U.S. states of Alabama and South Carolina have been waiting to use Apple and Google’s new system while other governments claim that the tech giant’s privacy restrictions make the system harder for public health workers to use.
The tech firms claim that app users will be protected by encryption and anonymous identifier beacons that regularly change. The companies said in a joint statement: “User adoption is key to success and we believe that these strong privacy protections are also the best way to encourage use of these apps.”
The statement from the firms also included comments from state officials in North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina which appear to signal plans to use the new tech. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, commented: “We invite other states to join us in leveraging smartphone technologies to strengthen existing contact tracing efforts, which are critical to getting communities and economies back up and running.”
Breitbart News reported in April that privacy experts are warning that this tracing tech could be an invasion of user privacy. Klon Kitchen, a technology analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told MarketWatch: “All of this could be abused. But information that could be used is already being collected.” But he added, “They have a vested interest in getting the economy up and running, and getting their engineers back in the building, and the government lacks the ability to do this.”
Josephine Wolff, a cybersecurity policy professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, commented on the tech stating: “The bigger concern is: What if other entities can access?” But Wolff seems reassured that the firms will keep any identifiable information out o the hands of third parties due to the 15 minute refresh time on the identifier on Apple and Google devices. “You might worry about someone creating a map of where you have been, but with an identifier that changes every 15 minutes it would be so much harder to trace to an individual person,” said Wolff.
Wolff added: “The truth about Google and Apple is they have so much information about us already.” Even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who has praised Apple and Google’s efforts, noted that there are privacy concerns relating to the tech. “Apple and other companies are working on using technology to do tracking. How do we do that and how do we do it fast?” Cuomo said before acknowledging the privacy issue stating: “Do you really want that cell phone in your pocket to be a tracking device?”
A survey at the end of April found that three out of five Americans are unwilling or unable to use the smartphone contact tracing technology developed by the Masters of the Universe in Silicon Valley.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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