Google, Apple roll out built-in COVID-19 exposure notifications to phones

[snoop1130]

Google, Apple roll out built-in COVID-19 exposure notifications to phones

By Stephen Nellis and Paresh Dave

 

FILE PHOTO: A 3D printed Google logo is placed on the Apple Macbook in this illustration taken April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

 

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google and Apple Inc. on Tuesday announced a new system that will enable public health authorities to use smartphones to assist in contact tracing without having to build an app.

 

The new system - called Exposure Notifications Express - will allow public health officials to submit a small configuration file to Apple and Google. The two tech companies will then use the file to set up systems that phone owners can opt in to in order to determine whether they have been near someone who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

 

In the case of iPhones, a new version of the iOS operating system being released on Tuesday will alert users whether an exposure notification system is available from local health authorities and allow users to set it up without downloading any new apps. On Android devices, users will also get a prompt from the phone's operating system, but will still have to download an automatically generated app.

 

The two companies said Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., will be the first U.S. places to use the new system. The new system also works alongside tools that the two companies released in May that enable public health officials to build apps that allow iPhones and Android devices to use Bluetooth signals to detect proximity to a person who has tested positive.

 

Six U.S. states and about two dozen countries have launched exposure notification apps based on the Apple-Google technology in recent weeks without major hitches.

 

The apps are increasingly compatible with each other, allowing for cross-border tracking. A few jurisdictions, such as Hawaii, are moving forward with separate tracking technology.

 

However, the effectiveness of exposure notification apps in helping slow coronavirus spread remains a major question. Most governments are not tracking detailed data on app usage in the interest of user privacy.

 

In Alabama, for example, more than 1,000 students caught the virus in an outbreak in August. But a university representative said it was too early to tell whether a two-week-old state app had made any difference.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-02

 

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[DrTuner]

Well this is a bit better than installing a usurper spy app. Apple and Google aren't commies.

[LukKrueng]

10 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Well this is a bit better than installing a usurper spy app. Apple and Google aren't commies.

Not sure their end goal is any different though

[EbhB]

Fortunately there are privacy-based alternatives out there now that seem to actually work well!

 

https://e.foundation/

Edited September 3, 2020 by EbhB

[Bender Rodriguez]

I posted about this magic hidden automatic update a month ago, but my post was DELETED

[VBF]

"On Android devices, users will also get a prompt from the phone's operating system, but will still have to download an automatically generated app."

How many dumb users will just click a "Yes" box and download this spyware without thinking, I wonder?

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, EbhB said:

Fortunately there are privacy-based alternatives out there now that seem to actually work well!

 

https://e.foundation/

It's been possible to install vanilla Android for years, I have one phone running it. But some of Google's apps like Maps are of so much value it's hard not to use them. A burner google account is one imperfect solution.

[earlinclaifornia]

I downloaded the latest software. 100 days with out a Thailand transmission so I won't get any notices...

[DrTuner]

2 hours ago, earlinclaifornia said:

I downloaded the latest software. 100 days with out a Thailand transmission so I won't get any notices...

Can you imagine the mayhem if there was a software glitch and Thai phones started beeping? The country would implode in terror within seconds. Usurpers have stoked the fear to ridicilous levels.