Apple and Google launch Privacy-safe contact tracing using Bluetooth Low Energy to combat coronavirus
How to track the contact of infected people during the outbreak of new coronavirus is a problem. At present, the spread of new coronaviruses in China has slowed, while the spread of viruses in Europe and North America is still very violent, so it is also important to track the trajectory of activities.
To this end, the technology giant Apple and Google launched a system similar to the health code. This tracking system uses the mesh Bluetooth feature to determine which people the infected person has contacted.
Bluetooth transmission technology can usually cover a range of a few meters to tens of meters, and the new coronavirus can only infect other people when it is in close contact.
Apple and Google will launch a Bluetooth beacon exchange system based on their respective platforms and network, and people will automatically exchange beacons when they are within the Bluetooth transmission range.
The beacon will be stored on the smartphone. When someone is diagnosed with the virus, the relevant information will be sent through the server, and the person they contact will be alerted.
After receiving the alarm, the user can follow the prompts to deal with it, such as self-quarantine or immediately go to the surrounding hospital for new coronavirus detection after the relevant symptoms.
This kind of networking using Bluetooth technology can perform automatic exchange of beacons and store data, so the accuracy is relatively high as an early warning system is also very suitable.
According to a white paper released by Google, here’s how such a system might work:
- When two people come in close contact for a certain period of time (say 10 minutes or more), their phones will exchange anonymous identifier beacons. The identifiers rotate every 15 minutes and have no personally identifiable information.
- If one of the two is positively diagnosed for COVID-19, that infected person can enter the test result into an app from a public health authority that has integrated the aforementioned API.
- Then, the infected person can consent to upload the last 14 days of his or her broadcast beacons to the system.
- Any other person who has been in close proximity to the individual tested positive will then be alerted if there exists a beacon on the device that matches the broadcast beacons of everyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the region.
- The app then provides the individual with information about the next steps.
The automatic exchange of beacons based on the mesh Bluetooth feature will involve user privacy data, so privacy is also the top priority when Google and Apple develop the technology.
For example, support for this feature is limited to official applications, and third-party developers cannot directly use the technology or collect data without authorization.
Secondly, the user can actively choose to install such official applications and submit data. Official organizations such as The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can push broadcast warnings after obtaining confirmed data.
Google and Apple said that privacy and transparency are the most important in this work, and the relevant data will only be uploaded and early warnings will be given after the user’s consent is obtained.
At this stage, Google is cooperating with Apple and disease control centers around the world and is currently formulating relevant standards and technical drafts including Bluetooth related and cryptographic technologies.
After completing these, Google and Apple launched the API framework, and then various governments and disease control centers can develop related applications to call this API to obtain data.
