the next phase of stopping the spread of the coronavirus relies heavily on
contact tracing text says they can help with that but can it be done in a way
without infringing on people's privacy
hey everyone welcome back to today in tech I'm Juliet Beauchamp before I tell
you how exactly Tech is saying they can solve the issue of contact tracing let's
first talk about what exactly it is it's kind of exactly what it sounds like it
traced the people you have come into contact with if you contract the corona
virus this can be really helpful in alerting people who are maybe
asymptomatic or showing mild symptoms that they have come into contact with
someone with the corona virus and should get tested immediately if they get
tested they can quarantine until they get their results and if their results
are then positive that means that they can stay home and prevent the spread to
other people this could be especially helpful for people who are asymptomatic
like I said who may still be running their essential errands and interacting
with some people every day or every few days or even these essential workers the
people who work in grocery stores in pharmacies who are still talking and
interacting with a lot of people every day it could be really important for
them to know that they have come into contact with someone who has it so they
can then stay home until they're either cleared through a test or until they
ride the virus out and they don't spread it to anyone else there's two main ways
to approach the issue of contact tracing there's the high-tech way with an app
and there's the old-fashioned way which pretty much just involves calling
someone on the phone this old-fashioned way of calling people that may have come
into contact with you if you become infected of with the corona virus would
look a little something like this so if I become infected I tell my State Health
Department my doctor a third-party program they reach out to everyone that
I may have come into contact with this could pose some issues because it only
assumes about ten contacts per person and there's always the issue of me not
being able to recall exactly who I interacted with but the good thing is
that there's that person-to-person interaction which could be especially
comforting and helpful for people right now and then of course there's the
higher tech version of contact tracing which would involve some sort of
application Apple and Google are actually collaborating right now to
develop an app that would allow people who have contracted the corona virus to
self-diagnose and anyone that they may have come into contact with would be
alerted on their phone this actually involves Bluetooth pings rather than GPS
data so anytime that my phone came into contact with your phone if we were close
enough for our our phones to talk to each other using Bluetooth if I got the
corona virus and I self-reported on the app you would get a notification that
you've come into contact with someone who has it of course as with many big
tech solutions people are still going to be really worried about their privacy
especially when it comes to really intimate details like your health record
but Apple and Google are assuring people that their app is going to make privacy
of most importance and here's how first and foremost you will have to consent to
using the app and it will be explicit this is how your data is being used
instead of using GPS data say I go to the grocery store on Monday at 12:50
that information is not really going to be that important what is gonna be
important is if I have the app and others around me have the app that our
phones are talking to each other it'll work a little like this I'm carrying my
phone with me of course when I'm going to the grocery store or the pharmacy or
potentially work if I still need to be in the office and my phone will be
equipped with this app this app is always talking to other phones through
Bluetooth pings so instead of getting a notification that you know Juliet was at
the grocery store and you were also there it'll look more that I have
self-reported and hey you've come into contact with my phone somewhere so you
should go get tested and these Bluetooth pings are randomly generated identifiers
that makes it really hard to tell you from any other data on your phone so
hopefully it'll keep all of your data and personal information anonymous all
communication will also be done on your device so no information is going to one
centralized location you also cannot be forced to download this app and your
explicit consent to gather this data will be required Apple and Google are
also saying that in an effort that this privilege
is not abused this app will be shut down once the pandemic is over possibly area
by area and it will only be allowed to be used by public health officials and
providers and governments so I want to know your thoughts would you be willing
to download this kind of app or would Apple and Google need to take additional
steps to protect your privacy for you to be willing to download it let me know in
the comments below and thanks so much for watching this episode today in tech
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