Tech giants’ virus tracking app raises privacy concern

The Google-Apple app would inform people when they have been in contact with someone suffering from COVID-19. Picture: AFP

A groundbreaking partnership between Apple and Google underlines competition and privacy concerns raised around attempts to combat the coronavirus.

Apple and Google have announced they are working on an application which would tell you that someone you have been in contact with has tested positive for the virus.

The bluetooth model works only if you and the person infected have agreed to be part of the service, but even US President Donald Trump has raised the privacy concerns. He said: “A lot of people worry about it in terms of a person’s freedom.” But he added it was very ­interesting and he would take a close look at it.

On paper, the groundbreaking collaboration is a welcome use of technology to help combat the virus. But from a wider perspective, based on the companies’ ­respective activities elsewhere, it raises genuine competition and privacy concerns.

The ACCC is granting interim authorisation to a slew of industries to collaborate amid the virus, ranging from supermarkets to health insurers to shopping centre owners and energy companies. Some of these arrangements, such as the health insurance and shopping centre clearances, are of dubious merit and raise competition concerns. These will be addressed in the formal authorisation process.

Neither Apple nor Google have yet contacted the ACCC seeking clearance for this deal.

Given the ACCC’s concerns about the power of computer platforms led by Google and Facebook, a venture that links the controller of Android phones (Google) and Apple would raise strong concerns.

Google and Facebook have resisted demands to pay for copyright material they use on their platforms, which has decimated media revenues. But turning smartphones into virus-tracking devices has strong appeal.

Google and Apple are planning to release the first versions of their software next month.

In a statement they said: “All of us at Apple and Google believe there has never been a more important moment to work together to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems.”

Any collaboration between the two, while welcome, would need be subjected to tight controls and oversight, which is something neither Apple nor Google have welcomed with open arms in the past. The Wall Street Journal noted the application’s code specifies that if an individual deleted the app advertising connections are disabled.

This raises the question of just what is in the app for Google and Apple, because both make their money from collecting user data.