Why it matters: In a move that caught many off guard, Apple and Google announced an effort to create a standardized means of sharing information about the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Utilizing the Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) technology that's been built into smartphones for the last 6 or 7 years and some clever mechanisms for anonymizing the data, the companies are working on building a standard API that can be used to inform people if they've come into contact with someone who's tested positive for the virus.
Initially those efforts will require people to download and enable specialized applications from known health care providers, but eventually the two companies plan to embed this capability directly into their respective mobile phone operating systems: iOS and Android.
Numerous articles have already been written about some of the technical details of how it works and the companies themselves have put together a relatively simple explanation of the process. Rather than focusing on those details, however, I've been thinking more about the second-order impacts from such a move and what they have to say about the state of technology in our lives.
First, it's amazing to think how far-reaching and impactful an effort like this could prove to be. While it may be somewhat obvious on one hand, it's also easy to forget how widespread and common these technologies have become. In an era when it's often difficult to get coordinated efforts within a single country (or even state), with one decisive step these two tech industry titans are working to put together a potential solution that could work for most of the world. (Roughly half the world's population owns a smartphone that runs one of these OS's and a large percentage of people who don't have one likely live with others who do.) That's incredible.
With a few notable exceptions, tech industry developments essentially ignore country boundaries and have become global in nature right before our eyes. At times like this, that's a profoundly powerful position to be in---and a strong reason to hope that, despite potential difficulties, the effort is a success. Of course, because of that reach and power, it also wouldn't be terribly surprising to see some governments raise concerns about these advancements as they are further developed and as the potential extent of their influence becomes more apparent. Ultimately, however, while there has been discussion in the past of the potential good that technology can bring to the world, this combined effort could prove to be one of the starkest examples we've all experienced.
Unfortunately, some of the concerns regarding security, privacy and control that have been raised about this new effort also highlight one of the starkest examples of what the potential misuse of widespread technology could do. And this is where some of the biggest questions about this project are centered. Even people who understand that the best of intentions are at play also know that concerns about data manipulation, creating false hopes (or fears) and much more are certainly valid when you start talking about putting that many people's lives and personal health data under this level of technical control and scrutiny.
Let's hope that as more people get smarter about the type of tracking efforts that really do matter and can potentially impact people's lives in a positive way, we'll see much more scrutiny of these other unimportant tracking efforts.
While there are no easy answers to these types of questions, one positive outcome I certainly hope to see as a result of this effort is enhanced scrutiny of any kind of personal tracking technologies, particularly those focused on location tracking. Many of these location-based or application-driven efforts to harvest data on what we're doing, what we're reading, where we're going, and so on---most all of which are done for the absurdly unimportant task of "personalizing" advertisements---have already gotten way out of hand. In fact, it felt like many of these technologies were just starting to see some real push back as the pandemic hit.
Let's hope that as more people get smarter about the type of tracking efforts that really do matter and can potentially impact people's lives in a positive way, we'll see much more scrutiny of these other unimportant tracking efforts. In fact, with any luck there will be much more concentrated efforts to roll back or, even better, completely ban these hidden, little understood and yet incredibly invasive technologies and the mountains of data they create. As it is, they have existed for far too long. The more light that can be shone into these darker sides of technology abuse, the more outrage it will undoubtedly cause.
Finally, on a very different note, I am quite curious to see how this combined Apple Google effort could end up impacting the overall view of Google. While Apple is generally seen to be a trustworthy company, many people still harbor concerns around trusting Google because of some of the data collection policies (as well as ad targeting efforts) that the company has utilized in the past. If Google handles these efforts well---and uses the opportunity to become more forthright about its other data handling endeavors---I believe they could gain a great deal of trust back from many consumers. They've certainly started making efforts in that regard, so I hope they can use this experience to do even more.
Of course, if the overall efficacy of this joint effort doesn't prove to be as useful or beneficial as the theory of it certainly sounds---and numerous concerns are already being raised---none of these second-order impacts will matter much. I am hopeful, however, that progress can be made---not only for the ongoing process of managing people's health and information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic---but for how technology can be smartly leveraged in powerful and far-reaching ways.
Bob O'Donnell is the founder and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a technology consulting and market research firm. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech. This article was originally published on Tech.pinions.