Coronavirus Phone Tracking: What Happens Next Is Critical—Here’s How It Affects You

A vast array of contact-tracing apps will launch in multiple countries around the world in the coming weeks, fast-tracked by Google and Apple promising to build the underlying framework into their operating systems. As politicians continue to fight the pandemic medically and economically, the idea that this new tech can help resolve the crisis has taken hold. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. In reality the problem isn’t developing the technology, it’s managing all of us. And if that doesn’t work, then this won’t work either.

First, though, let’s deal with the privacy issue that has prompted so much debate since Google and Apple rocketed bluetooth contact-tracing up to the big leagues. Privacy is a distraction here. The surveillance aspects of this are dwarfed by the efficacy issues. And so the real privacy issue is that the debate will ensure some percentage of users read the headlines and avoid installing the apps.

There’s an old adage in surveillance: if you have too much data, you don’t have any data at all. It’s called over-collection. The idea that contact-tracing apps are a spy’s dream is nonsense. If the state wants to track your smartphone, they have more effective options at their disposal—ones without an off-switch.

Read more: forbes