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For the first time, the two technology competitors are collaborating and developing software to track people who have been in contact with a person infected with Sars CoV-2. The first results should be available to users in one month.
Apple and Google want to use Bluetooth technology in smartphones. This detects when multiple devices are approaching.
Two of the world’s largest technology groups and bitter competitors are teaming up to combat the crown pandemic: Apple and Google announced on Friday that they will jointly develop software that would assist with so-called contact tracking, which would register everyone, a person infected with Sars-CoV-2 has recently had contact. The software will take user privacy into account, Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote on Twitter. “Tim Cook and I want to work together on the project.”
To help public health officials curb the spread of # COVID19, Google and @Manzana We are working on a contact tracking approach designed with strong controls and protections for user privacy. @tim_cook and I am committed to working together on these efforts. https://t.co/T0j88YBcFu
– Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 10, 2020
Several software manufacturers, especially in Asia, have developed these contact tracking products in the past few weeks. Their goal is to help curb the spread of the coronavirus by informing everyone who has recently had contact with an infected person who may have contracted it and can isolate themselves as soon as possible. Like some products in Asia, Apple and Google want to use Bluetooth technology in smartphones. This detects when multiple devices are approaching.
With Apple and Google by far the largest manufacturers of smartphone operating systems worldwide are joining these efforts, which should help make such programs widely available. 3,000 million people worldwide use the iOS or Android operating system.
“Several leading healthcare organizations, universities and non-governmental organizations have played their role in developing a contact location technology that users can agree on,” the two companies wrote. Because Sars-CoV-2 can transmit through physical proximity, health experts have found that contact tracking technology is a useful tool in fighting the spread of the virus. Apple and Google now wanted to do their part to ensure these products could be used faster and more widely.
Development in two stages.
Specifically, Apple and Google are following a two-stage process: Programming interfaces for Android and iOS operating systems should be available to apps from health authorities in just one month. This means that a user who has installed such applications on their cell phone will be informed when another user with whom they have recently had contact is screened for the corona virus. The term can be 14 days, but it depends on the configurations of the health authorities.
In a second step, which should take longer, Google and Apple want to integrate a contact tracking platform directly into their operating systems. It would no longer be necessary to download a separate application. If a user later tested positive for the corona virus, the smartphone would verify the position data for the last 14 days with which they had contact. These people would receive an alarm on their cell phones. This is a more robust solution than the one used through programming interfaces and would allow more users to participate if they wanted to, Apple and Google said. Privacy and user consent would be a priority in all of this, Apple CEO Tim Cook said.
Tracking contacts can help delay the spread of COVID-19 and can be done without compromising user privacy. We are working with @sundarpichai AND @Google to help health officials take advantage of Bluetooth technology in a way that also respects transparency and consent. https://t.co/94XlbmaGZV
– Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 10, 2020
Help ease the ban on going out
The hope is that the technology can help stop future waves of Sars-CoV-2 infection early. Experts expect this as soon as individual countries relax their exit ban. It was only Friday that the New York Times published analyzes from the Department of Homeland Security, according to which the number of deaths from Covid-19 lung disease in the United States. USA It should increase dramatically in the summer, in case the previous ban on dating is relaxed. Therefore, the prospect of more rapid containment of future waves of infection should also increase the chances that current exit bans will be relaxed more quickly in many countries.
When asked about the new technology, President Trump said Friday that his government would “take a close look” at the two companies’ proposal.
Apple and Google made an effort to emphasize that users’ privacy concerns were taken into account when creating the software. The two companies also want to publish information about the work in the software, and therefore give independent scientists the opportunity to review it. “It has never been more important to work together and solve one of the world’s biggest problems together,” the companies said in a joint statement.
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