Dear subscribers,
Where does tech fit in the battle against the Covid-19? In previous letters, we talked about the mobilization of start-ups and large tech groups in the face of the coronavirus epidemic, to produce artificial masks and respirators using 3D printers, to stem false news and raise funds. A much less consensual theme has risen to the fore in recent days: tracking applications . It is on this subject that I would like to come back with you, and share some lines of reflection.
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There were two big news last week which, basically, come together:
- France is studying the creation of a social relations tracking application, StopCovid, as part of a European initiative. Eight European countries are working on it, said yesterday Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market.
- Apple and Google announced on Friday a joint initiative to facilitate the development of tracking applications, making them more efficient, consume less battery, and easily exchange information between iPhone and Android smartphones.
The two initiatives follow the same logic: it is to use the detection capabilities of smartphones to trace the thread of their social relationships, and alert those who have encountered people infected in the past 14 days. The applications will facilitate the identification of suspicious cases when the time for deconfinement comes. So much for the principle.
In practice, this raises at least three main questions, to which I will try to provide answers:
The most vehement criticisms concern the danger of a
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