Trump said Apple and Google's COVID-19 tracing tech posed 'big constitutional problems'

Reuters

President Donald Trump leading a daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House in Washington.

• President Trump claims Google and Apple's technology for detecting COVID-19 poses "big constitutional problems" for "a lot of people."
• The US president made the remark during a White House press briefing on Monday, adding that the issue would be discussed over the next four weeks.
• Google and Apple are partnered last week to create a contact-tracing system for detecting the spread of coronavirus, which will gradually be rolled out in the coming months.
• It's not clear what specific constitutional problems Trump thinks the tech poses, but the two firms say it requires explicit user consent and does not collect personally identifiable information.
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President Trump said Google and Apple's technology for detecting COVID-19 poses "big constitutional problems" for "a lot of people."

The US president made the remark during a White House press briefing on Monday, adding that the issue would be discussed over the next four weeks.

On Friday, Google and Apple announced a partnership that will see them create a Bluetooth-driven contact-tracing system for detecting the spread of coronavirus, which will gradually be rolled out in the coming months.

The basic idea is to alert people if they have come into contact with someone infected with the virus.

Discussing this tech, and how it might be used, Trump said: "We have more of a constitutional problem than a mechanical problem, but we will be making a determination on that. That's something we're gonna be discussing with a lot of people over the next four weeks. That would be a very accurate way of doing it, but a lot of people have a problem with it."

It's not clear what specific constitutional problems Trump thinks the tech poses, but the firms say it will require explicit user consent and does not collect personally identifiable information.

People who test positive for COVID-19 will not be identified to other users, Google, or Apple.

The partnership would enable iOS and Android devices to communicate using apps from public-health authorities. with the firms initially aiming to release a set of APIs in May that would enable interoperability between Android and iOS.

Then, over the coming months, the firms hope to build a broader, more robust platform for tracking the spread through Bluetooth technology that users can opt in to.

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