Tech Giants Apple And Google Join Hands To Fight Off Covid-19.
During the times of distress like today, when the whole world is on their toes for being extremely uncertain about the future, people who have an upper hand must come forward and help. Apple and Google, one of the biggest tech company’s have joined hands in order to tract the coronavirus situation. They are developing a COVID-19 contact tracing software that will use Bluetooth data instead of GPS location.
This software will run out in May and is expected to gain a lot of popularity because of its unique nature. It is also said that this new system would increase the security protection of the system. More detailed health care data will be provided for the health care professionals for a batter understanding of any adverse situation. This system will use the Bluetooth system for helping the authorities understand and create any more relevant applications which are needed. These new technologies will give an alert to the person who has come near the patient who has tested positive for the deadly virus.
This software saves the Bluetooth data on one’s smartphone in the most decentralized way while the EU wanted a software in a centralized way. The applications developed by the Europeans will not work at their most efficient stage without the base app as the one created by the google and apple together. Google and apple work as the base software for all the phones so they can trace the data at every point whereas the European applications won’t trace the data if the phone is locked.
Issues about the privacy concerns are also taken care of. Users can’t easily be tracked through these applications which actually solves a major privacy issue. This system will randomly set numbers for the people which hides the identity of the people. The big tech giant has also given out information about the ‘metadata’ like Bluetooth Signal power and user’s smartphone models would be encrypted together with primary information about who the users have been in close proximity with. People will be asked whether they want to use this technology or not.
The major issue of ‘exposure time’ has also been addressed. Exposure time basically means the time two smartphones were together or were near each other. Exposure time will go maximum up to 5-minute intervals which will give out the precise and appropriate information for the time a person met the patient in any way.
There have been questions about the effectiveness of using Bluetooth technology and not the more advanced GPS technology because Bluetooth signals penetrate through walls and other objects, which might not necessarily help spread the coronavirus. It is also said that the Bluetooth signals can be found even when the signal is absolutely fragile and less in frequency. This also raises another issue that the fake notifications might come up from passer by’s in public areas.
Google and Apple will also provide authorities the data on how many days had passed a user came in contact with an infected person. This will provide an upper hand to the authorities to guide the users in a better way for the development of the people as a whole and to fight off the deadly virus.
