Apple and Google said on Friday that users of the technology they are developing together to track contacts of Covid-19 patients will be able to control their data and that the system will likely be disabled after the pandemic is over.
The two giants of Silicon Valley had presented two weeks ago a new partnership intended to allow smartphones equipped with Apple iOS software or Google Android to exchange information via Bluetooth technology to allow users to know if they had encountered another person diagnosed with the coronavirus.
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While this new technology raises concerns about privacy, Apple and Google put forward certain technical details relating to data privacy on Friday. “Each user will have to make the explicit choice to activate the technology. It can also be deactivated at any time by the user ” , it is written in a joint document. "This system does not collect information about the location of your device, and does not share your identity with other users, Google or Apple," he added. "The user controls all the data he wants to share and the decision whether or not to share it."
Tracing applications are controversial because of the risks they can pose to the protection of private data. But several countries have adopted them to support the end of containment. The system developed by Google and Apple, which have the most used operating systems on smartphones worldwide, is expected in early May.
Read also: Covid-19: Apple and Google join forces to create a system for tracking infected people
The two companies assured that the health authorities will have access to the technology but that any application "must respect specific criteria on privacy, security and data control" . "The exposure notification data" will also be "stored and managed on the devices themselves" and not on government servers, they add.
Google and Apple have also suggested that the application be withdrawn when the pandemic calms down by ensuring that it can "deactivate" the system "depending on the region when its usefulness" is "exceeded" .
