Comment by bradfa | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bradfa | Hacker News Reader

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I think that Google and Apple will be extremely helpful in the coming months, at least in the USA, for tracing the spread of COVID-19. Google and Apple know where probably 90+% of adults/teens in the USA are located in real time. If they are able to anonymously tell you that you were in the same building as someone who has tested positive for the virus then you could take extra precautions or further isolate yourself to help prevent the spread. This wouldn't be perfect but it would be much more data than is given to people today about who is infected and it would make tracing contacts much easier for health officials.

A small number of people who read sites like Hacker News will find this an appalling invasion of privacy. Health officials will think it's a really useful thing to try. It'll be interesting to watch, if it does happen.

In the near term, I would happily try to convince everyone I meet to opt-in to such a service as I feel the health benefits could greatly outweigh the privacy concerns. But then when we do have a better long term solution for this virus I would also strongly recommend people to disable the tracking.

At the same time, the people who use this data also has to recognize its limitations.

When considered collectively, it is probably fine for an overall picture but it will have some limitations. For example: the people who are not submitting data (whether they found some way to disable it or simply don't use the technology) probably live a sufficiently different lifestyle to render the generalizations meaningless for that population.

When considered individually, it can be disconcerting. The accuracy of location data can be an issue. In urban areas, being off by a few meters can associate a person with one population instead of another. Data classification is another reason. In my area, it is currently a summary offense to enter a park. That can create problems for parks workers. The issue may easily be resolved, but it creates headaches at a time when people have other concerns on their mind. Then there is abnormal device usage. Exactly how do you treat people who leave their phone at home 24/7 because they have no use for it (currently unemployed), do not want to be tracked, or are simply unable to leave their home?

It is easy to argue that these people are professionals who know how to handle data, so limitations will be recognized. That's certainly partially true: governments, police, health officials, and the fine folks at Google are professionals who know how to handle data. The thing is, they typically know how to handle their own data and may not be familiar with handling data from other sources.

Google and Apple are now doing a version of this: https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/10/apple-and-google-are-launc...

Having your medical records broadcasted to anyone nearby you, how could it go wrong?

Exactly this is creepy dystopian. And also think how much it tracks everything you do including opening apps and everything you search

I would prefer that they track only with permission of the tracked, but I realize that we are little better than tagged animals to them.

With Apple and Google they already have the permission of the tracked. It’s in the terms of service for your phone, or your phone’s OS, or any of the other vectors they control that you carry around with you all the time.

As stated in the linked article, Google location history is disabled by default.

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