Privacy hawks monitor contact tracing projects

Privacy hawks say they’re keeping a close eye on a new project tied to contact tracing that involves Apple and Google, warning that information gathered on Americans must remain limited to fighting the coronavirus.

The two companies earlier this month announced their joint effort to create a software package for public health organizations that would allow them to develop contact tracing applications.

The apps will create a list, kept on individuals’ phones, of people they have come into contact with over a roughly two-week period. If an app user becomes infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, they can choose to share the diagnosis with a centralized database operated by the public health service.

Privacy advocates would normally be opposed to that kind of information gathering, but many are indicating a willingness to set those concerns aside, up to a point at least, in order to help fight the spread of the virus. Tracing the disease is seen as a key step to safely reopening the economy, particularly since a vaccine is 12-18 months away, at best.

“Contact tracing will be key, along with actual testing, to help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a statement to The Hill this week. “While the approach Google and Apple are pursuing appears to be less invasive than alternatives, it is not without privacy risks.”

The program’s use of Bluetooth for tracing means a user’s physical location will not be collected, just the identities of the people they have been in contact with. If necessary, the public health service would notify everyone who has come close to an infected person, likely recommending that they self-isolate or seek a coronavirus test.

Apple and Google said in their announcement that the program had “user privacy and security central to the design.” They later added that the project was more of an exposure notification system than contact tracing, noting that the service does not involve identifying infection hot spots or interviewing users.

Some lawmakers said they plan to monitor the project to ensure privacy standards remain intact.