Google and Apple have teamed-up, and are developing a tool that will help people determine if they have come in contact with someone who has been infected with COVID-19. The two tech giants are forming a rare coalition as governments worldwide are turning to technologies like phone tracking and facial recognition to help battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The companies will release an API that public agencies can integrate into their applications. The app will be a built-in system-level platform that uses Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons to allow contact tracing based on if users opt-in.

The API’s are tentatively expected to be available by the middle of May for Android and iOS. The contact tracing system is set to be available “in the coming months”.

The app will not use real-time location tracking, but instead will use BLE beacons to identity if someone has been around other people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Both tech companies have stressed that users will have to provide their explicit consent for the app to work. Google and Apple will both have to build strong security safeguards in the app before it’s rolled out to the public, as the only way the app will provide accurate information is if millions of people around the world also opt-in.

Diagram provided by Google, documenting how the tracker would work.

According to information produced by google, the system developed would work like this:

Individuals come in contact with each other for the specified amount of time, and their phones will exchange anonymous identifier beacons. There is no personally identifiable information in these transmissions.
If one of these individuals tests positive for COVID-19, the infected person enters the test results into an app from a public health authority who has integrated the API.
The infected person can consent to upload the last 14 days of their broadcasts beacons to the app.
Others who have been in close proximity to the person who tested positive with coronavirus will be alerted if a beacon on the devices matched the broadcast beacons of everyone who has tested positive for Coronavirus in the region.
The app then provides the individual with information on what they should do next.

"This model places less trust in a central authority, but it creates new risks to users who share their infection status that must be mitigated or accepted. Full transparency about how the apps and the APIs operate, including open source code, is necessary for people to understand, and give their informed consent to the risks." the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said about the proposal.

With governments across the globe enacting surveillance measures to track the spread of the coronavirus, privacy concerns have risen. Over 28 countries have implemented ways of tracking by using smartphone data, electronic wristbands, or even requiring citizens to send a picture of themselves or be hit with a fine.

Last week, the ACLU voiced concern about tracking users with phone data, stating that any system that is put in place needs to be limited in scope and avoid any potential invasion of privacy or abuse.

South Korea has been able to minimize the outbreak by using a contact tracing program, but it has also raised concerns about consent and whether or not users have the option to opt-out before their data is collected and stored. How long will data collection occur? When will the data be deleted? It’s extremely important that the anonymous data that is collected cannot be used in the future to eventually track people.

Bruce Schneier, a cybersecurity expert, says that any data collection and monitoring situation "must be scientifically justified and deemed necessary by public health experts for the purpose of containment. And that data processing must be proportionate to the need."

Any monitoring or tracking applications that are developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic shouldn’t lead to a monitoring system that governments use after the outbreak has quieted down. Tracking users to mitigate the spread of the virus is dicey situation that requires transparency, meeting public health needs and civil rights.

Story via The Hacker News