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As of the time of writing this article, the coronavirus pandemic popularly referred to as COVID-19 is still spreading like wildfire with a total of 7,941,791 infections worldwide according to official numbers from WHO. This pandemic, despite its devastating effects, will most definitely make the world a better place after it is done as one of the main (if not the only) positive things about it is that it exposed the shortcomings in the entire world and how the whole of humanity has largely been focused on the wrong things considering how easily the virus was able to spread and how it was able to disrupt, with relative ease, activities we thought were crucial to our lives as humans.
The world today runs on technology as everything ranging from business practices to our personal lives and relationships is largely powered by modern advanced technology and our dependence on modern technology is increasing by the day which could have catastrophic repercussions when it falls on us or is unable to help us much in times of unprecedented problems.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc globally the inadequacies of technology has been exposed as none of the tech giants seem to be able to provide a comprehensive technology-based solution to combat or at least slow down the pandemic. Google and Apple inc managed to come out with a somewhat handicapped contact tracing and exposure notification API months after the pandemic started (May 2020 to be exact) and after some countries in Asia have almost recovered from the pandemic. This is embarrassing, in my opinion, considering the immense resources behind those companies but having read through the documentation of the Google API, it became obvious to me that they were more concerned about privacy violations than actually provisioning a solution to the problem and quite frankly, nobody can blame them. To understand the inadequacies of modern technology, let us take a look at how this API works as we will use it as a case study.
The exposure notification API works via a decentralized identifier technology that uses unique randomly generated temporary keys that are created on users’ mobile devices (the keys are not tied to users’ specific identity or details as those are reserved for ads only 🙂 ). The customizable nature of these APIs means that public health agencies are allowed to define what constitutes potential exposure using criteria such as distance, exposure time etc. Therefore, the agencies can tweak the transmission risk based on their own standards.
Apple and Google provided a joint statement about the API:
One of the most effective techniques that public health officials have used during outbreaks is called contact tracing. Through this approach, public health officials contact, test, treat and advise people who may have been exposed to an affected person. One new element of contact tracing is Exposure Notifications: using privacy-preserving digital technology to tell someone they may have been exposed to the virus. Exposure Notification has the specific goal of rapid notification, which is especially important to slow the spread of the disease with a virus that can be spread asymptomatically.
To help, Apple and Google cooperated to build Exposure Notifications technology that will enable apps created by public health agencies to work more accurately, reliably and effectively across both Android phones and iPhones. Over the last several weeks, our two companies have worked together, reaching out to public health officials scientists, privacy groups and government leaders all over the world to get their input and guidance.
Starting today, our Exposure Notifications technology is available to public health agencies on both iOS and Android. What we’ve built is not an app — rather public health agencies will incorporate the API into their own apps that people install. Our technology is designed to make these apps work better. Each user gets to decide whether or not to opt-in to Exposure Notifications; the system does not collect or use the location from the device; and if a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, it is up to them whether or not to report that in the public health app. User adoption is key to success and we believe that these strong privacy protections are also the best way to encourage the use of these apps.
Today, this technology is in the hands of public health agencies across the world who will take the lead and we will continue to support their efforts.
Excluding the fact that the whole world including the self-acclaimed advanced societies and superpowers have nothing in place to combat a pandemic of this nature in terms of technology or even protocols and infrastructure is alarming, to say the least.
As a developer, I have to confess that I was quite overjoyed when I heard that Google and Apple are working on a contact tracing and exposure notifications API and when it was finally released I quickly rushed to take a look at the documentation only to be discouraged by how many limitations have been put in place by the companies. These limitations made me feel like the companies and the world as a whole is still more concerned about privacy violations than actually fixing the problem and given how the world is highly sensitive to such issues these days, I don’t think anyone can blame them.
Some limitations are listed below:
No Geolocation Information
The companies behind the API, have explicitly barred the use of the API in apps that utilizes geolocation information permission from users. Firstly, apart from the fact that apps already in development were forced to be rewritten from the ground up wasting resources and time but also this means that contact tracing which is the major function of apps utilizing this API has been highly handicapped in favour of (well, you guessed it) privacy. This leaves developers with only working with the short distance Bluetooth technology which brings us to the next limitation.
Bluetooth Only
The usage on Bluetooth alone is a major drawback on the API as Bluetooth covers a very low distance at about a few centimetres and I personally am worried about the effectiveness of apps utilizing this API. Admittedly, the usage of Bluetooth was born out of privacy concerns as opposed to limitations or unavailability of more powerful technology.
Anonymous Data
Data collected from users are mostly anonymous as Apple and Google put in a lot of effort to ensure that privacy is an utmost consideration, including encrypting all Bluetooth metadata (like signal strength and specific transmitting power), as that could potentially be used to determine what type of device was used, this offers a slim possibility of associating an individual with a specific device and using that as one vector for identification.
Exclusive to Health Agencies
Access to the API is restricted to only health agencies and this means that other developers are alienated. The reason for this is up for debate but the only reasonable one I can think of is well privacy issues and concerns but given all the restrictions enforced on its usage, I doubt that is the problem though.
Finally, health agencies in less developed regions of the world don’t usually have an IT department due to funding and lack of skilled professionals so developing an app using the API is something of a pipe dream as Google and Apple are not planning to create one themselves.
Despite the advancements in modern technology and the efforts the tech community is putting to create solutions using tech, it still feels like there is a relative silence in the tech community in a time of need such as this.
Artificial Intelligence has proven itself as not intelligent enough (yet) to actually bring something game-changing to help mitigate the spread of the virus. Modern medicine and scientists are still struggling as the WHO and the US CDC (including its equivalent in other countries) are scrambling for information on the virus even though they claim to be equipped with the latest medical technologies.
In all fairness, some of the limitations and shortcomings listed in this article are more likely to be described as shortcomings in the society which are negatively impacting the effectiveness of technology in these trying times but alternatively, this pandemic also exposed how underdeveloped and unprepared human technology is in dealing with this specific case. It could also mean that the world as a whole has been prioritising the wrong technologies which are a hard thing for a tech enthusiast like me to say.