Will Contact Tracing App helps World to Control Pandemic.? Google & Apple Thinks So

Pandemic has brought together the Tech Giants on a single platform. Where they are working together on the projects to battle against COVID-19. Google & Apple in this regard has decided to develop the “Contact Tracing App“. That will be used to trace the individuals’ health data for figuring out the presence of diseases (Coronavirus).

Collected data then will be analyzed to take measures for slowing down it’s spreading. It seems pretty good that a single mobile app will help the world to fight the diseases. But a number of people are still confused about the “Data Privacy” & they actually must be. But to fully understand the facts behind Contact Tracing App keep reading below.

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How Contact Tracing App Works.?

Note: The app will be the same as the other mobile apps. It’s your choice to install or do not install this app.

I do explain the working mechanism of this app just with a simple example. Let’s suppose you are going outside for some work. While you already have installed the Contact Tracing App on your smartphone. When you will go around in public, you & the other people with the same app will have done a data transmission process. Which will indicate whether those individuals have or have not the Corona disease?

Other than that, for example, you or a person among those you passed closely on that place got infected with COVID-19. The app will send you all the alert or notification. That notification will be also shared with health departments. Authorities will isolate the infected person and start examining for further processes. So they will have a proper track record of infected ones. It will automatically help to stop spreading diseases in others.

On Sunday, Australia has launched this app, while millions of people have downloaded the app just after some hours. This Australian version of the app works when two bodies come closer into an area of 5 feet and stay in touch for more than 15 minutes. It’s working mechanism is based on Bluetooth Data to store the contact.

But what about the Data Privacy.?

Well, as I discussed earlier that, it’s up to the user, whether he wants to install or don’t install the Contact Tracing App on phone. So one of the privacy concern is cleared here authorities are not forcing anyone to install the app. Secondly, Google & Apple has assured that the app will not collect the user’s location or movement data. The only contact with humans will be collected using GPS or Bluetooth souces.

Moreover, this app will work only when the user will open the app, background processing is not allowed. Means app will not work in the background for collecting users data. Finally, the collected data will be shared only with health authorities to keep the track record of people who are infected with COVID-19. But still, we should be careful about the security risks as cybersecurity expert Rich Mogull said

Apple and Google appear to be working hard to maintain privacy but there is always some level of risk. The difference between these apps and normal cell phone tracking is the precision- they are designed more to track your direct contact with other individuals. However, I’m still more concerned with our telecom providers tracking all movement and basically selling it for marketing. The key with these apps is use and abuse, and that will be more on the government than the operating system providers.

Rich Mogull

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