US senator says Apple, Google need to show contact tracing will not violate privacy

WASHINGTON: Smartphone software makers Alphabet’s Google and Apple will have to convince the public that any contact tracing technology to track who has been exposed to the new coronavirus will not lead to a violation of their privacy, Senator Richard Blumenthal said on Wednesday.
“Apple and Google have a lot of work to do to convince a rightfully skeptical public that they are fully serious about the privacy and security of their contact tracing efforts,” he said in a statement.
A critical factor in re-opening economies shuttered by the coronavirus pandemic is the ability to identify who has come into contact with carriers so that public health officials can control a resurgence of the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus.
This contact tracing effort got a boost recently when Google and Apple said they were collaborating on technology to help identify people who have crossed paths with a contagious person and alert them.