BBC: [2] Apple and Google are jointly developing technology to alert people if they have recently come into contact with others found to be infected with coronavirus.
[3] They hope to initially help third-party contact-tracing apps run efficiently. [4] But ultimately, they aim to do away with the need to download dedicated apps, to encourage the practice.
[5] The two companies believe their approach – designed to keep users, whose participation would be voluntary, anonymous – addresses privacy concerns. [6] Their contact-tracing method would work by using a smartphone’s Bluetooth signals to determine to whom the owner had recently been in proximity for long enough to have established contagion a risk.
[7] If one of those people later tested positive for the Covid-19 virus, a warning would be sent to the original handset owner.
[8] No GPS location data or personal information would be recorded.
[9] “Privacy, transparency and consent are of utmost importance in this effort and we look forward to building this functionality in consultation with interested stakeholders,” Apple and Google said in a joint statement.

“We will openly publish information about our work for others to analyse.”

President Trump said his administration needed time to consider the development.

“It’s very interesting, but a lot of people worry about it in terms of a person’s freedom,” he said during a White House press conference.

“We’re going to take… a very strong long at it, and we’ll let you know pretty soon.”

The European Union’s Data Protection Supervisor sounded more positive, saying: “The initiative will require further assessment, however, after a quick look it seems to tick the right boxes as regards user choice, data protection by design and pan-European interoperability.”

But others have noted that the success of the venture may depend on getting enough people tested.