Since a long time the big companies have been under the radar of the critics as they had allegedly taken the private data of their users for unknown purpose. But this time tech giants Google and Apple are all set to come up with a new tool that will help to tackle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This surely means that the users will have to surrender more details from their smartphones and might also include some sensitive data. But rest assured that the data will be used to know if the user has been infected by the virus or was ever exposed to it.
Apple and Google have come together and announced a tech tracing tool that can be used by the smartphone users and will soon be accessible to the public health authorities. This does not sound very new but if things workout properly, then there are chances that it might turn out to be a very crucial as well as an effective tool to tackle the outbreak. The joint effort by the companies is also an assurance that the data of the users will not be misused and would be handled in a much better way than the government efforts. None of the data is shared with the authorities that they do not have at present. For instance, the name of the person who has tested positive has not been shared.
The vaccine is a very essential thing to break the coronavirus, but that seems to be a distant goal at present. But of the lockdown has to be ended before the vaccine is made, then it is very important to trace the person who has infected with other people. Even the head of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has agreed to this method. This means that the person who has been infected, has to be asked about who he or she has contacted in the past 14 days. They will have to then try to trace out the people who the infected person might have crossed paths with.
For this the right tech is required and Google and Apple are doing that. The proposed system by the tech giants is expected to be ready by mid-May, 2020.
Photo Credits: The Verge
