[ad_1]
(Reuters) – Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc.’s Google said on Monday they will ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracking system the two are creating to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Photographic illustration with a 3D printed coronavirus model next to the Google and Apple logos. April 12, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic
Apple and Google, whose operating systems are used by 99% of smartphones, said last month that they would work together to create a system that notifies people who have been around others who have tested positive for COVID- 19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The companies plan to allow only public health authorities to use the technology.
Both companies said a primary goal is privacy and preventing governments from using the system to collect data on citizens. The method uses the Bluetooth signals from the phones to detect encounters and does not store Global Satellite Positioning (GPS) location data.
However, developers of official coronavirus-related applications in several U.S. states told Reuters last month that it is vital that they be allowed to use GPS location data in conjunction with the new contact tracking system, to monitor how Shoots buds and identify trouble spots.
Apple and Google said they will not allow the use of GPS data in conjunction with contact tracking systems. The decision will require public health authorities who want to use GPS location data to use unstable workarounds to detect encounters using Bluetooth sensors.
Privacy experts have warned that any cache of location data related to health issues could make companies and individuals vulnerable to ostracizing if the data is made public.
Authorities and their app developers may reject Apple and Google restrictions and instead use a more basic Bluetooth-based system.
However, some encounters are unlikely to be detected by the system, because iPhone and Android devices disable Bluetooth connections after a while for battery saving and other reasons, unless users remember to enable them again.
Apple and Google also said Monday that they will only allow one application per country to use the new contact system, to avoid fragmentation and encourage more adoption. However, the companies said they will support governments that choose a state or regional approach, and that states in the United States will be able to use the system.
(For an explanatory graphic on tracking systems open: tmsnrt.rs/2WbLiJs)
Edited in Spanish by Javier López de Lérida
