Apple and Google have teamed up to launch a mobile phone tool to follow the contacts of people infected with coronavirus (冠状病毒). The technology is a form of contact tracing, a method used to identify people who may have had contact with infected individuals in an attempt to prevent additional spread of disease. If a device user becomes infected with the virus and agrees to share that information, the record could be used to inform other people that the user could have infected.
Major technology companies—including Google and Facebook—have been denounced in recent years for not protecting user privacy. In some cases, companies have been accused of secretly selling user data. In the past, Apple chief Tim Cook has criticized Facebook and Google for putting profits ahead of user privacy.
However, now numerous technology companies and organizations have been seeking to develop tools to help fight COVID-19. Health and government officials have called for such technology to help fight the current crisis.
In announcing the new system, Apple and Google said its developers had built in "strong protections around user privacy." The companies said the technology would not identify personal information or record user movements. It is designed to only catch data about when users' phones have been near each other. Data will not be kept on company servers, Apple and Google added. The two companies also said they would "openly publish information" about their work for others to examine.
Pam Dixon is director of the not-for-profit World Privacy Forum. She told The Associated Press that after discussing the new system with a top Apple official, she is convinced that people's privacy will be protected.
"I think they've taken care of some of the really big problems," she said. Dixon notes that the companies are able to turn of the system when it is no longer needed. The government is not going to have identity information of those testing positive.
