Apple (APPL) and Alphabet’s Google (GOOG, GOOGL) say privacy and security are top of mind for their collaboration to enable “contact tracing” apps to function across iOS and Android mobile devices to contain the novel coronavirus. However, telecom and cybersecurity experts say the technology may not fully protect users, raising scenarios that expose the identities of infected individuals.
The planned technology is slated to use low-power Bluetooth functionality standard on iPhone and Android mobile operating systems. The companies propose that as long as a mobile phone’s Bluetooth remains turned on and enabled, a “beacon” can exchange information about COVID-positive disease status between phones within 10 to 15 feet of each other.
The privacy questions lie in the difficulty of setting an effective tracking distance, and time frame between when a device detects close proximity with an infected user’s device, and when the receiving device is notified of the proximity event, according to Ben Levitan, a veteran telecommunications engineer.
“The only way to fix this is to come up with a notification area that’s fairly large,” Levitan said, explaining the so-called fix could render the tracking ineffective. “If you give me notifications that someone is within 10 feet, they have The Scarlet Letter. They may have lost their privacy, but it’s very valuable to me. Though if you set the parameter to a mile, it’s kind of useless to everybody.”
Here’s how it works
The technology requires two levels of opt-in cooperation: first, from users who voluntarily enter their positive diagnosis into the app and agree to have their status anonymously “beaconed” by their health authority’s app, and second, from app users who agree to receive notifications if their mobile device comes into close proximity with one containing a positive COVID-19 indication.
