Contact tracing is usually done manually by identifying and tracing every person who might have come in contact with the infected person; however, it becomes increasingly time consuming and difficult in case of a quickly spreading epidemic. Amid the global spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), an unprecedented cooperation between rival tech giants might help us identify and decelerate the spread.
Apple and Google: an unlikely cooperation
Apple and Google are two of the largest tech companies in the world; their operating systems, iOS and Android represent around 98% of the global market share. The rival companies are joining together in an ambitious yet controversial project; to develop a contact tracing system designed to identify and send notices to users who have come into contact with a person diagnosed with Covid-19.
The rival companies are joining together in an ambitious yet controversial project
Automated contact tracing
The system being developed by Apple and Google will register log by your smartphone every time you come into contact with other people. When one of the people you had come into close contact tests positive for Covid-19 and reports it to public health authorities, you would be notified by receiving an alert through your phone. This will all be done automatically and anonymously.
Bluetooth LE – How it works?
The contact tracing system will be using a radio technology called Bluetooth Low Energy (LE). It emits shorter bursts of connectivity instead of constantly transmitting connection as the standard Bluetooth does, thus draining much less battery. Using this technology, your phone will be exchanging incognito keys with nearby devices, maintaining them in a collected list that remains in your phone. When a person you came into close contact with, reports positive for the virus through a contact tracing app, the keys collected by their phone will be uploaded to a server that will notify the owners who recently exchanged keys with the infected person, including you. The alert will keep the infected persons identity anonymous, while sharing information on what do to next to everyone who came near that person.
Privacy and Security
Apple and Google clarified that the contact tracing app will require consent in order to participate, without collecting personal information nor revealing the identity of the infected person. The question of whether both companies will leave the contact tracing system within their operating system began to circulate, as it can be potentially used for government surveillance or for commercial reasons. In response, both companies vowed to turn off this system once the virus threat subsides and the pandemic ends.
The cooperation between competing companies to develop a software in cooperation with public health authorities represent one of the most progressive public-private partnership. On paper, the idea sounds good, but it remains to be seen how effective it would be in practice.
