Showdown looms between Silicon Valley, US states over contact tracing apps

The Care19 mobile app, which the governors of North Dakota and South Dakota have asked residents to download to assist in contact tracing during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease , is seen on a phone, US April 24, 2020.

Google and Apple have sought to build public trust by emphasising that the changes they are making to Bluetooth to allow the tracing apps to work will not tap phones’ GPS sensors, which privacy activists see as too intrusive. Authorities currently ask Care19 users to give them permission for timestamped GPS location data, which allows officials to manually call places where users could have spread the virus and ask for names and numbers of others who may have been there at the same time.

GPS location data allows authorities to decide which businesses may need to be closed because the virus is spreading there, and prioritise which contacts of diagnosed patients to test.

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Showdown looms between Silicon Valley, U.S. states over contact tracing appsU.S. states promoting apps that could prove essential to ending the coronavirus lockdown may be headed for a showdown with the two Silicon Valley companies that control key software on 99% of smartphones over the collection of sensitive GPS location data. What did you expect to happen? Thumbs Up Across America? If this doesn’t scare the shit out of you, you’re just not paying attention. Nothing will trace a global pandemic like a potpourri of regional apps with different parameters. LostInTranslation
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »