White House may use location data from Google to track the coronavirus

[Yoni Heisler]

• As the coronavirus continues to spread, countries are starting to employ high-tech strategies to stop the virus from growing.
• The U.S. government is currently exploring the idea of using smartphone location data from Facebook and Google to better keep an eye on how and where the coronavirus spreads.
• Nothing is set in stone just yet, but it's safe to say that any type of strategy involving user location data would set off alarm bells for privacy advocates.
• Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.

With no pun intended, governments around the world are coming up with novel approaches to stopping the coronavirus from spreading. Earlier this week, for example, word emerged that Israel approved a new emergency regulation that would allow the government to monitor and track cellphone location data of known coronavirus patients. The underlying goal of this approach is to warn individuals who happen to cross paths with a coronavirus carrier.

"The existence of the data trove and the legislative framework under which it is amassed and used have not previously been reported," said The New York Times which broke the news yesterday. "The plan to apply it to fighting the virus, alluded to only vaguely by Mr. Netanyahu, has not yet been debated by lawmakers or revealed to the public."

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White House may use location data from Google to track the coronavirus originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 17 Mar 2020 at 19:37:21 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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