Apple & Google 'Watershed Moment'.
                     Apple & Google 'Watershed Moment'
Contact-tracing apps
• Apple and Google have released a software tool that will make it 
possible for nations to release coronavirus contact-tracing apps 
that adopt the firms' privacy-centric model. It offers developers 
access to added Bluetooth functionality to solve a problem existing 
apps have of iPhones sometimes failing to detect each other.
Source: Google Images
‘Watershed’ moment
• Android and iOS device owners will have to carry out system 
upgrades. The release of these APIs [application programming 
interfaces] along with the operating-system updates will be a 
watershed moment for the development and adoption of 
proximity-tracing apps
Source: Google Images
Future of travel?
• Apps that adopted the protocol should be able to be made 
interoperable, which means that citizens can continue to be 
contact-traced as they cross from one region or country to another. 
That could potentially help reduce travel restrictions imposed 
because of the virus - at least for those using the apps involved.
Source: Google Images
Why contact-tracing is important?
• Contact-tracing apps are designed to automatically log when two 
people come into proximity to each other for a significant amount 
of time. If one is later diagnosed with the coronavirus, the other 
can be given an alert, which might suggest they self-isolate and/or 
request a medical test of their own.
Source: Google Images
Drawbacks in contact-tracing
• But the authorities believe adoption has been hampered by two 
factors, it concerns the technology poses a privacy risk and the 
restrictions Apple places on third-party apps' use of Bluetooth in 
the background. In theory, the new system should address both 
these issues.
Source: Google Images
A new system
• Its decentralized approach locates contact-matching on devices 
themselves rather than a centrally controlled computer server. And 
this aims to cut the risk of either hackers or the authorities using the 
database of who met whom and for how long for other purposes.
Source: Google Images
Challenges remain
• Apps that adopt Apple and Google's API can customize it within 
certain limits. But they will not be able to log, for example, a 
phone's GPS coordinates. But the UK's NHS, France, Norway and 
India say the centralized approach gives them greater insight, 
making it easier to tweak the risk model that decides who receives 
which type of alert.
Source: Google Images
Privacy risks
• Not collecting some kinds of data, such as location, is a policy 
decision, not an engineering one. But Apple-Google have to build 
something for every phone on Earth, including China and Iran, and 
think about how it could be abused. How much you need the extra 
data and whether it's worth the privacy risks is a matter of opinion.
Source: Google Images
Significance of this moment
• The Covid-19 crisis might be the perfect catalyst for a new approach 
to sensible technology regulations. Such change is critical as Big 
Tech is poised to emerge from Covid-19 even more dominant. This 
is a watershed moment for our digital culture. We can’t afford to 
miss this opportunity to change it for the better.
Source: Google Images