Since Apple and Google announced your collaboration for a Coronavirus – COVID-19 contact tracing framework that will work between iOS and Android devices, users have been raising questions about privacy and security concerns.
Does this new setting open up to an Orwellian future where Big Brother – Big Brother tracks down everyone he crosses? No he does not. Read on for more details.
What is contact tracing?
Contact tracing is the process in which people an infected person is in contact with are traced and diagnosed to determine if they have also been infected by the virus. This process was initially made popular in Singapore through a government-backed app called TraceTogether, which was later open sourced, to help with community-driven contact tracing.
The app relies on Bluetooth to keep track of other TraceTogether users you have close contact with. If the user tests positive for Coronavirus – COVID-19, the application log is provided to the relevant government authorities, which includes interaction data with other TraceTogether users.
One limitation of the app on iOS is that it must be kept in the foreground at all times in order to work properly, due to the restrictive nature of the operating system.
This same idea has also been implemented in several other places around the world, and is now being implemented at the system level by Apple and Google.
How is Apple and Google's Coronavirus tracking different?
The simple foundation for Apple and Google's Coronavirus – COVID-19 framework is to ensure that system-level APIs, which work between iOS and Android devices, allow app developers to create solutions that can be used to track contacts.
If a user of an app that relies on the COVID-19 contact tracing framework tests positive for the virus, some healthcare providers will flag them in a system that will send notifications to all other users who have come in contact with the app. infected person.
The system will only keep data from the last 14 days. Anyone a user came into contact with, prior to the last 14 days, would not be in the database.
The goal is to make this possible without sacrificing the privacy and security of users. No one wants governments or people with malicious intent to use such a tool to find out who they have contacted.
What are the current safety precautions?
The framework proposal makes it clear that three different keys are used:
- tracking key, that remains on the device
- daily tracking key, which is a unique key generated every day from the tracking key
- Rolling Proximity Identifier, generated by the daily tracking key
Instead of any personally identifiable data, the Coronavirus tracking system will keep proximity identifiers on the list, to maintain contact tracing records. None of this data will be linked to the user's Apple or Google accounts, nor to the location data of Apple Maps or Google Maps.
However, if a person tests positive for the virus, security measures will be slightly reduced. The infected person's daily tracking keys are published to the server, allowing the framework to notify users if the proximity identifiers on their devices were generated from those daily tracking keys.
Unless someone has a record of a user's proximity IDs through some complex Bluetooth LE detection tool and the daily tracking key, the system cannot be hacked easily.
Will Apple, Google or the government have access to the data?
No, the data is not stored on Apple or Google servers, therefore it will not be packaged or provided to any government organization. The proximity tag record will always remain on the user's device.
"But I'm paranoid and still want to secure my data"
You will not be forced to use the system. It will be completely optional through the apps and operating level settings that iOS and Android will get in future updates.
However, despite not participating in the contact tracing program, which aims to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, COVID-19 to countless people, the authorities will personally ask you if you test positive for the virus.
The only thing the system will do is make contact tracing more accurate and easier.