Apple and Google partner on COVID-19 contact tracing technology (1 Viewer)

[adonis]

Link

This collaboration could be HUGE in terms of getting the country back operational again.  It's great to see two of our best companies working together to solve our most pressing societal challenge.

Apple and Google partner on COVID-19 contact tracing technology

Across the world, governments and health authorities are working together to find solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic, to protect people and get society back up and running. Software developers are contributing by crafting technical tools to help combat the virus and save lives. In this spirit of collaboration, Google and Apple are announcing a joint effort to enable the use of Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus, with user privacy and security central to the design.

Since COVID-19 can be transmitted through close proximity to affected individuals, public health officials have identified contact tracing as a valuable tool to help contain its spread. A number of leading public health authorities, universities, and NGOs around the world have been doing important work to develop opt-in contact tracing technology. To further this cause, Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing. Given the urgent need, the plan is to implement this solution in two steps while maintaining strong protections around user privacy.

First, in May, both companies will release APIs that enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices using apps from public health authorities. These official apps will be available for users to download via their respective app stores.

Second, in the coming months, Apple and Google will work to enable a broader Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform by building this functionality into the underlying platforms. This is a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in, as well as enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities. Privacy, transparency, and consent are of utmost importance in this effort, and we look forward to building this functionality in consultation with interested stakeholders. We will openly publish information about our work for others to analyze.

All of us at Apple and Google believe there has never been a more important moment to work together to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems. Through close cooperation and collaboration with developers, governments and public health providers, we hope to harness the power of technology to help countries around the world slow the spread of COVID-19 and accelerate the return of everyday life.

 

[comfortably numb]

Link

This collaboration could be HUGE in terms of getting the country back operational again.  It's great to see two of our best companies working together to solve our most pressing societal challenge.

Or it could be the beginning of Skynet

 

[Otis]

Not to sound like a cynic, but sounds like a great way for smartphone makers to roll out tracking technologies that can be useful for many other (commercial) purposes well after the pandemic is over.

 

[snogger]

Not to sound like a cynic, but sounds like a great way for smartphone makers to roll out tracking technologies that can be useful for many other (commercial) purposes well after the pandemic is over.

Yea.. the "allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in" probably should have a big *  for now.. as a note..
easily could see this be an auto install in the future and you have to opt out..

 

[adonis]

Not to sound like a cynic, but sounds like a great way for smartphone makers to roll out tracking technologies that can be useful for many other (commercial) purposes well after the pandemic is over.

Other countries have done things like this, China/Singapore.

Odds are it'll be built in such a way that you opt-in and only participate when you want to.  It can be done anonymously in terms of not sending personal info to central locations, but where you can get notified if you need to quarantine. 

We'll see what the ultimate outcome is, but without technology like this, a return to anything resembling normal is all but impossible.

 

[Ned]

Other countries have done things like this, China/Singapore.

Odds are it'll be built in such a way that you opt-in and only participate when you want to.  It can be done anonymously in terms of not sending personal info to central locations, but where you can get notified if you need to quarantine. 

We'll see what the ultimate outcome is, but without technology like this, a return to anything resembling normal is all but impossible.

China already doing this def makes this sound like a good idea. 

 

[adonis]

Yea.. the "allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in" probably should have a big *  for now.. as a note..
easily could see this be an auto install in the future and you have to opt out..

The more likely scenario is outside organizations requiring folks to be "opted-in" in order to participate in any group gatherings.

I wonder whether employers will require it for folks returning to work.  

It's incredibly unlikely the cell phone makers will set this up in a way that's oppressive.  Their goal is to give folks a tool in a way that maximizes privacy, but also is useful.  How folks use it, or whether folks use it, will be up to them.  But odds are, again, folks will be strongly encouraged to use it by multiple outside organizations, imo. 

It will become a vital tool of society for the short term, until a vaccine is developed.

Another benefit is that this can stay in our toolbox for future pandemics, and revised as time goes on.

 

[adonis]

China already doing this def makes this sound like a good idea. 

What path toward the most normal society one can imagine doesn't include some sort of compliance tracker, certificate of immunity, or contact tracing technology?

This is being taken on by two of the most respected businesses in the world, and one devoted as a pillar of their company to the privacy of its users.  Can't imagine a much better prospect for solving this problem in a way that works effectively and protects privacy.

I mention China not to highlight the privacy aspect of it, because of course that's not a factor there, but to highlight how it's a necessary element of returning folks to work and re-engaging with the world.

 

[Otis]

Other countries have done things like this, China

Well that makes me feel better.

 

[adonis]

I'd be willing to make a bet that in a few months this kind of contact tracing app, using the technologies being discussed here, will be on the majority of our phones by choice mainly because it'll be the best way for us to re-engage with society/work and others will either strongly request it, or require it.

Feel free to make your own predictions.

 

[Grace Under Pressure]

I'd be willing to make a bet that in a few months this kind of contact tracing app, using the technologies being discussed here, will be on the majority of our phones by choice mainly because it'll be the best way for us to re-engage with society/work and others will either strongly request it, or require it.

Feel free to make your own predictions.

I agree with this. And would also go so far as to say that objecting to it because of "big brother" is pre-pandemic thinking. "Muh freedom" is going to be an obstacle to getting back the economy. You like your job? You like your 401k? You like a future for your kids? Get over it.

 

[snogger]

What path toward the most normal society one can imagine doesn't include some sort of compliance tracker, certificate of immunity, or contact tracing technology?

This is being taken on by two of the most respected businesses in the world, and one devoted as a pillar of their company to the privacy of its users.  Can't imagine a much better prospect for solving this problem in a way that works effectively and protects privacy.

I mention China not to highlight the privacy aspect of it, because of course that's not a factor there, but to highlight how it's a necessary element of returning folks to work and re-engaging with the world.

Vaccine... No need to track once a vaccine is released..

Google/Apple then start asking...Now what do we do with an app that we paid to build.. Ah, now that people Opted in to be tracked for the next few months, they will forget they installed it, and who reads the fine print if the terms are updated??   

 

[adonis]

Vaccine... No need to track once a vaccine is released..

Google/Apple then start asking...Now what do we do with an app that we paid to bill.. Ah, now that people Opted in to be tracked for the next few months, they will forget they installed it, and who reads the fine print if the terms are updated??   

That happens in 18 months.

Also, this is a great tool to have in our tool belts to handle future infectious disease outbreaks.  Why wouldn't we want a tool like this in play for a lot of things?  This won't be the last pandemic we face, and certainly not the last infectious disease outbreak we face.  Getting this up and running now is a key tool in our belt for dealing with future issues. It could also be a nice tool just to handle public health in general.

And as far as a vaccine - there's a long time between now and when a vaccine will be ready, manufactured, and accessible for everyone.   If this app comes out in the near future, it'll be invaluable for folks to be able to get out and re-engage with society with a degree of confidence larger than no tracking at all, but behind a vaccine.

I'd recommend watching this entire video, but I've bookmarked it at a spot where it shows what happens when you do contact tracing in a spreading pandemic.  It essentially quickly flattens the curve and removes the virus from the community, very effectively: https://youtu.be/gxAaO2rsdIs?t=1190. (again, go back and watch the whole thing if you haven't, it's great).

But the point is, that with effective contact tracing, our society can almost go back to normal if everyone is participating.  And at worst, even if everyone isn't participating, a high level of participation still has a major benefit.

 

[adonis]

Just for reference, here's the app Singapore developed and released about 3 weeks ago called TraceTogether. 

Here's a video describing the app: https://youtu.be/buj8ZTRtJes

https://www.tech.gov.sg/media/technews/tracetogether-behind-the-scenes-look-at-its-development-process (cool pictures in article, worth looking at directly)

Contact tracing is essential for containing COVID-19, but not everyone can remember who they have been in contact with. TraceTogether uses Bluetooth to identify who you have been with rather than where you have been. To develop this app, GovTech had to test dozens of different phones, calibrating wildly differing Bluetooth signal strengths.

Singapore has been battling COVID-19 since its first case of infection was confirmed on 23 January 2020. As of 23 March, 12pm, there are a total of 509 confirmed cases in Singapore. Much of the credit for the country’s response goes to our contact tracing efforts. Working in collaboration with healthcare colleagues at the hospitals, as well as the Singapore Police Force, the contact tracers at the Ministry of Health (MOH) have to date identified over 8,000 close contacts who have been quarantined.

While contact tracing has helped Singapore contain the spread of the virus, the process is painstaking and labour-intensive. Furthermore, even the most strenuous efforts of contact tracers can be thwarted by lapses in memory and the fact that there is simply no way for people to retroactively identify strangers they might have come into contact with.

But most people already carry a pocket contact tracer with them at all times: their mobile phones. Taking advantage of Singapore’s high mobile penetration rates, GovTech has built TraceTogether, an app that uses Bluetooth to do contact tracing with a difference.

Who, not where

Given the ubiquity of mobile phones and their range of communication capabilities, they were a natural starting point when thinking about technological solutions to the problem of contact tracing. However, many of the existing apps focus on location-based services, using global positioning service (GPS) to identify people who have been in close proximity to an infected person.

While GPS works well in wide, open spaces, it fares poorly when it comes to indoor and highly urbanised settings, said Mr Jason Bay, Senior Director of Government Digital Services at GovTech. “If you are one floor down in a building, your GPS location could look the same as someone in the floor above you because of signal reflections and multipath propagation effects,” he explained.

Aside from the technical challenge, using location data for contact tracing also raises serious privacy and data security concerns. If users are hesitant to download the app for fear of inadvertently revealing their movements, its ability to link the dots would be greatly diminished.

“So instead of attempting to tackle the issue of contact tracing by answering the question of ‘where,’ we address contact tracing by answering the question of ‘who’,” explained Mr Bay, who led the team behind TraceTogether. “After all, you could argue that the virus doesn’t care where transmission happens; it’s only interested in whether there is a hospitable host in close contact.”

He added that TraceTogether only needs Location Permissions to know the relative distance of between users and the app does not collect or use any real-world geographic location.

Much more than memes

Used by teens to AirDrop random pictures of memes to strangers, Bluetooth can also be put to use in the service of contact tracing. Instead of a meme, phones with the TraceTogether app installed will send each other a message that contains four pieces of information: a timestamp, Bluetooth signal strength, the phone’s model, and a temporary identifier or device nickname.

If someone with TraceTogether is diagnosed with COVID-19, he or she can simply upload their data to MOH, which will then be able to decrypt the information and begin contacting other TraceTogether users who have been in close contact of the confirmed COVID-19 case.

“Bluetooth has a maximum range on the order of about ten meters,” Mr Bay said. “And because it is a low power signal that degrades very quickly over distance, we can use signal strength to figure out the distance between two phones within a reasonable margin of error.”

And now for something completely different

This ‘figuring out’ turned out to be much more complicated than anticipated, however. “In the course of developing this app, we found out that the Bluetooth signal strength difference between two phones can be 1,000 percent or even more—up to 10,000 percent even,” Mr Bay said.

“To use a metaphor, some people speak with booming voices and others have very soft voices. If you are trying to estimate the distance based on volume, you will have to calibrate the microphone you use for each speaker – loud or soft. One of the hardest parts of this project was characterising and calibrating across different models of phones,” he said.

The team ended up testing dozens of different models, enlisting the help of partners at Nanyang Polytechnic and the Institute for Infocomm Research who had anechoic chambers that blocked out all other signals so that they could measure base-level signal strength. All this was new territory for the GovTech engineers, who are primarily software rather than hardware engineers.

“Compared to the other apps and websites we have done, TraceTogether is qualitatively and categorically different because we had to drill deep into the Bluetooth hardware stack and access low-level functionality that was sometimes implemented differently across different Bluetooth chipsets,” Mr Bay said. “Many teammates shared that this was one of the most fulfilling projects for them because of the amount of learning needed.”

The end result is an app that will hopefully be able to help contact tracers uncover previously unknown close contact with COVID-19 cases and speed up the contact tracing process, he concluded.

“TraceTogether does not replace the contact tracing process. Instead, we see it as an important tool in the toolbox of contact tracers. It is not sufficient to rely on technology alone, as we need the expertise in public health and communicable diseases to make sense of the data collected using this technology,” added Mr Sutowo, MOH’s Director of Analytics and Information Management. “TraceTogether only works between phones that have the app downloaded and running. The more people download and use TraceTogether, the more effective it will be. We hope more people will use it.” he added.

 

[jrt103]

hard pass

 

[adonis]

More details on how it works:

Just when you were wondering why the world’s biggest tech companies weren’t doing more to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Apple and Google made a big announcement: They are joining forces to build an opt-in contact-tracing tool using Bluetooth technology that could help public health officials track the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The new tool brings with it not only hope for a quicker end to the pandemic, but also a host of privacy and security concerns.

The contact-tracing tool Apple and Google want to create would have your smartphone log when you’ve come into close contact with other people. If one of those people later reports Covid-19 symptoms to a public health authority, your phone would send you an alert. It works a bit like exchanging contact information with everyone you meet, except everything is designed to be anonymous and automatic. Instead of contact info, your smartphone will periodically exchange anonymized tracing keys with nearby devices. Both devices maintain a list of the keys they’ve collected on a cloud server, and when one person reports an infection, they have the option of sending an alert to people they’ve recently been in contact with. That alert will share information for what those people should do next.

Those are the broad strokes of what’s sure to be a very complex public-health-focused surveillance system. It represents an unprecedented partnership between two competing tech giants, one that could forever change the way our devices talk to each other. (Apple and Google say that the new contact-tracing tool will work between iPhones and Android phones.) The Bluetooth-based approach also draws on beacon technology that’s already in use in retail environments — and is already a concern for privacy advocates. Understanding the privacy and security implications of this new coronavirus contact-tracing technology will take time, but based on what we know now, the tool will start rolling out soon.

How it’s built

An important thing to understand about this system is that Apple and Google aren’t doing this by themselves. The two companies are building a set of tools, known as an application programming interface (API), that lets iOS and Android apps communicate with each other

In the first phase of the tool’s release, which will start around mid-May, Google and Apple will release the APIs so that public health authorities can then build apps that will be publicly available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. People can choose to download those apps — and again, these apps will let iPhones and Android phones talk to each other.

The tool’s second phase will roll out over the next several months. Apple and Google plan to build contact-tracing functionality into the operating systems of the phones themselves, which might sound a little tricky for folks who worry about being tracked without their consent. As the New York Times points out, by building the tool directly into the operating system, Apple and Google effectively ensure that the contact-tracing system can run 24 hours a day, rather than only when a particular app is open.

“This is a more robust solution than an API and would allow more individuals to participate, if they choose to opt in, as well as enable interaction with a broader ecosystem of apps and government health authorities,” the companies said in a press release. “Privacy, transparency, and consent are of utmost importance in this effort, and we look forward to building this functionality in consultation with interested stakeholders.”

To protect users’ privacy, Apple and Google say they will build this system while keeping people’s identities anonymous throughout the process. That’s because the companies say they won’t build a database of who has Covid-19 and whom they’ve been in contact with. Instead, they’ll store that information in temporary, anonymous cryptographic keys that refresh every 15 minutes. Meanwhile, all participation in contact tracing will be opt-in, and both companies say they plan to release regular reports on the program’s progress.

Apple and Google released technical specifications and other details about the project in press releases on Friday morning. Though it will take some time to sift through these details, the tool’s announcement has definitely caught the attention of privacy experts, who broadly seem hopeful about the anonymized, decentralized nature of what Apple and Google are building.

How it works, in theory

Which brings us back to how the tool might actually work. In their announcement, Apple and Google mapped out a hypothetical scenario that does a good job of explaining the broad strokes of the contact-tracing process. It involves two people named Alice and Bob.

Alice and Bob meet each other for the first time while sitting on a bench for a brief conversation. Because they’ve installed the new Apple and Google technology, their phones exchange anonymized tracing keys (think of these as contact info files with a unique identifier instead of a person’s contact info). These keys indicate that Alice and Bob have been in contact, and because they’ve opted in to the Apple and Google contact tracing system, this exchanging of keys happens automatically.

A few days later, Bob finds out he’s positively diagnosed with Covid-19, and he updates an app with that information. With Bob’s consent, the app then sends an alert to everyone with whom Bob exchanged keys in the last 14 days. Alice is one of these folks, so she gets a notification that she’s been in contact with someone who has Covid-19. The notification also includes information about what Alice should do next, like go get tested herself.

As captivating as these drawings are, they represent a complex marriage of technology and design. That doesn’t mean that the contact-tracing system can’t work as advertised, but there are, so far, an unknown number of caveats that will come with its potential success.

How privacy matters

In announcing this new initiative, both Apple and Google have stressed that users have to consent to participate in contact tracing, that the apps won’t collect personally identifiable information, and that people who test positive aren’t identified to anyone else. Still, organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have raised privacy concerns about such contact-tracing systems — which are already being widely used in other countries such as South Korea, China, and Singapore.

“To their credit, Apple and Google have announced an approach that appears to mitigate the worst privacy and centralization risks, but there is still room for improvement,” Jennifer Granick, ACLU surveillance and cybersecurity counsel, wrote in a public statement on Friday. “We will remain vigilant moving forward to make sure any contract tracing app remains voluntary and decentralized, and used only for public health purposes and only for the duration of this pandemic.”

And that’s another looming question: Just how long will Apple and Google leave these contact-tracing tools embedded in their mobile operating systems? After all, if this technology can be used to track who you’ve been in contact with, it seems possible that it could also be coopted for commercial purposes or even for government surveillance. As Bennett Cyphers, staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said to Recode, “We don’t want anything to be built into the OS that’s going to be turned on forever.”

There are also questions about the accuracy of Bluetooth. Some have worried that Bluetooth could yield false positive matches, though it’s not yet clear exactly how Apple and Google will implement the proximity features of Bluetooth LE technology. Others have raised concerns about the location accuracy of contact-tracing mobile apps in general. Furthermore, for the tool to be most effective, a plurality of people must opt in to using it. The big test of this project’s success will be how widespread the adoption of this contact-tracing tool becomes, and if that will be enough to impact the course of this pandemic’s trajectory significantly.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about how the Apple-Google tool will work in practice. We’ll learn more in the weeks to come, after the companies roll out the APIs and public health authorities start releasing contact-tracing apps. But regardless of potential drawbacks, this tool represents one of the most ambitious private-public partnerships in recent history. It’s the beginning of a new future where tech companies are injecting their resources into a public health crisis, not only leveraging their power in a tremendous way but also raising questions about how this power will change society for years to come.

 

[ChiefD]

More details on how it works:

Do you work for Apple or Google?

 

[adonis]

Do you work for Apple or Google?

No...but this is a huge deal.

I follow Apple very closely and have for a long time.  

Working with Google on something as ambitious as this, to address the biggest problem our country currently faces, is a huge, huge deal.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

This is excellent news.  (I have mentioned in other threads that I was born without the gene that makes people care about this sort of privacy.  I truly don't care if Google knows my every move -- that is a matter of total indifference to me).

 

[FBG26]

Not to sound like a cynic, but sounds like a great way for smartphone makers to roll out tracking technologies that can be useful for many other (commercial) purposes well after the pandemic is over.

They already track your location and use it for all sorts of things, like advertising. Supposedly the location data is anonymous but it's not hard to link the location data to an individual. 

Link

"THE COMPANIES THAT COLLECT all this information on your movements justify their business on the basis of three claims: People consent to be tracked, the data is anonymous and the data is secure.

None of those claims hold up, based on the file we’ve obtained and our review of company practices.

Yes, the location data contains billions of data points with no identifiable information like names or email addresses. But it’s child’s play to connect real names to the dots that appear on the maps."

 

[snogger]

They already track your location and use it for all sorts of things, like advertising. Supposedly the location data is anonymous but it's not hard to link the location data to an individual. 

Link

"THE COMPANIES THAT COLLECT all this information on your movements justify their business on the basis of three claims: People consent to be tracked, the data is anonymous and the data is secure.

None of those claims hold up, based on the file we’ve obtained and our review of company practices.

Yes, the location data contains billions of data points with no identifiable information like names or email addresses. But it’s child’s play to connect real names to the dots that appear on the maps."

Yea, wouldn't be difficult to see a dot go back to the same spot day after day and get the name of the people who live there.

 

[Mister CIA]

This is excellent news.  (I have mentioned in other threads that I was born without the gene that makes people care about this sort of privacy.  I truly don't care if Google knows my every move -- that is a matter of total indifference to me).

I agree.  I want to be all righteous about privacy,  but meh; however, I only acquiesce with the insistance that the use of this data is well-regulated and that it's public knowledge who has accessed this data.  Any gross misuse of such data is punishable by death. 

 

[coyote5]

Good lord.  

 

[CurlyNight]

I know seniors who don't have smartphones nor do they want one. I don't see anyone saying too bad, you have to have one or you stay home. 

 

[AAABatteries]

Any chance they can call this app “Mark of the Beast”? 

 

[Dezbelief]

Any chance they can call this app “Mark of the Beast”? 

Only when they're laughing at the general public while having cocktails with the Zuckerbergs.

 

[James Daulton]

Is this the google website promised a month ago?

 

[FBG26]

The article in the OP mentions that they are using Bluetooth for the contract tracing and concerns over tracking people once coronavirus is over.

From the article Adonis posted:

if this technology can be used to track who you’ve been in contact with, it seems possible that it could also be coopted for commercial purposes or even for government surveillance

This is somewhat of a silly concern, since we can already use Bluetooth to track cellphones. Stores do this already to track movements within the store. I'm glad that Google and Apple are trying to implement a strategy that protects privacy, but I'm not worried about them creating a tool that can be used to track you after the virus situation is over since that already exists. The trick is actually doing it in a way that respects privacy, so good on them for focusing on that. 

 

[FBG26]

This article from The Verge gives a good summary of the technical details. It sounds like Apple and Google have put a lot of thought into using Bluetooth for contact tracing while protecting privacy. 

This article from arstechnica is a little less confident that it will actually protect privacy. 

But it's definitely encouraging to see them working on a way to do contact tracing and protecting privacy, since privacy isn't exactly Google's forte (since their primary business, ads, relies on knowing lots about you). 

 

[BoltBacker]

They already track your location and use it for all sorts of things, like advertising. Supposedly the location data is anonymous but it's not hard to link the location data to an individual. 

Yeah, that ship has already sailed years ago for almost everyone I know. Just to install a calculator app they require you allow location data. The big one for me is Uber. I use it all the time and I have to have a credit card number(so real name) so my phone always knows my location already. If you didn't do any shopping, banking, or travel, or buy music, books, videos etc I guess you could create a spoof account.

I'm one of the few people that don't use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tic-Toc, etc..... I'm pretty sure all of those apps scrape your location data already and if anyone thinks they are just doing that for fun and not monetizing it already they are crazy. If you are truly worried about "privacy" you should be using burner dumb flip phones without any GPS. Or live in a shack in Montana.

I applaud Google and Apple for working together on this and trust them to make more headway than the government.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Is this the google website promised a month ago?

I think not. Jared & his buddies took that one on, cobbled something together, then took the website down before it was tested. Not sure what if anything is being done with it now, think he moved on to supply logistics.

Oscar Health