“I think the privacy concerns are somewhat legitimate, but I think they’re a little
RYHUEORZQ7KHUH¶VDORWRIμWKHVN\LVIDOOLQJ¶NLQGRIVWX̆JRLQJRQDQG,GRQ¶W
think we’ve quite got to that point yet. Maybe facial recognition will be the
technology that’s the killer app for privacy,” says Bhagwat. “People vastly
exaggerate how easy it would be to solve this [privacy] problem.”
$OWKRXJKWKHFXUUHQW&29,' SDQGHPLFKDVGRPLQDWHGWKHPHGLDF\FOH
recently, some of these issues are coming to a head behind the scenes as people
work from home and spend more time online. Meeting software company Zoom
was busted, and then sued, for sending information—including device,
operating software, carrier, time zone, IP address, and more—to Facebook
without permission via the “Login with Facebook” SDK. (Zoom has since
removed the SDK.)
Meanwhile, governments around the world have been using various types of
phone data to track and combat the disease, including enforcing social
distancing and mapping the spread. Many have raised concerns about
VDFUL¿FLQJSULYDF\GXULQJDFULVLVRQO\WRQHYHUJHWLWEDFNEXWWKHUHVSRQVHLQ
Taiwan, where the government installed location trackers on the phones of
people suspected of having COVID, has been positive, because policies there
KDYHEHHQVRH̆HFWLYHDWVWRSSLQJWKHVSUHDG.LQVD+HDOWKKDVEHHQFKHHUHGIRU
its ability to quickly spot potential outbreaks—sometimes weeks ahead of the
CDC—based on the body temperature of its users, information that gets sent
straight to the company by its smart thermometers.
Photo^ credit:^ Trismegist^ san/shutterstock.com