In the coming weeks the federal government is set to launch a new App designed to let you know if you’ve come into contact with someone infected by COVID-19. Is the government just looking to spy in individuals or is this a legitimate measure to help defeat the spread of the CoronaVirus?
Putting that aside that debate for the moment, it’s important to understand exactly how this App might work.
ITNews reports that it’s expected that Australia’s CoronaVirus App is being developed using the source code from Singapore’s TraceTogether App. Once installed the App uses bluetooth to identify when two people with the app installed come into contact, and then stores the record of that contact on each device as a unique ID that contains no personal information.
If a user becomes infected with COVID-19 then the data collected from their movement over the past few weeks could quickly identify others who they have come into contact with (whether they know the person or not). This could asssit getting people tested and into isolation fast to prevent further spread of the virus.
So basically the goal of the proposed Coronavirus tracking app is to give the Australian Government the ability to trace those who are infected, and who they’ve been in contact with.
Are you on board with this? The Government has stated that the App will only be effective if 40 percent of the population installs it.
We can expect to hear more about this in the coming weeks as the App is finalised for Australia.
The video below outlines how the App used in Singapore works (note this may not be exactly how the Australian App operates)
