Apple, Google ban use of location tracking in contact tracing apps

Look! Google and Apple are pretending to care about our rights!

Both companies said privacy and preventing governments from using the system to compile data on citizens was a primary goal. The system uses Bluetooth signals from phones to detect encounters and does not use or store GPS location data.

Hahaha!!! Is this a joke? They literally helped China develop one the most Orwellian surveillance system known to man

They don't care about our rights we already know that.

The real reason that Google and Apple are concerned

Is that the Billionaire executives are worried that Governemtns could track who they have been meeting with, where, when and for how long.

Huh where is facebook, zuckerberg not included huh , thought he would be right amongst this with his complete control persona type and track your every move intrusion he is so famous for.

Why would a government use Google/Apple software when they have an adviser who knows a guy that has a software company that helped them out before on a successful political campaign that only broke a few laws? Looking at you UK.

https://tech.newstatesman.com/coronavirus/palantir-covid19-datastore-coronavirus

For those in the comments complaining about privacy and how hypocritical both companies are, I’d like to clarify something. This tracing solution was Apple’s initiative, they started it and privacy was a core component in its development, which they shared with Google. For several years Apple has talked about privacy and is one of a few which has espoused end-to-end encryption in messaging, and was the first to introduce fast and accurate biometric sensors to safeguard people’s security and privacy. 

Every time I hear people confuse both companies I remind them that there’s an obvious way to tell who will respect your privacy and who won’t. Look at each company’s business model; how do they make money? Apple makes money through selling consumer electronics, at sometimes exorbitant prices. No matter what you think of Apple, they do have a higher brand prestige in the market than any other computer or software brand. Most of this earned, some not. They’ve recently expanded their own line of services which include monthly subscriptions to shows, video games, music, etc. But Apple does not make money knowing your data. They in fact do their utmost to remove all identifying data about you. They do not sell your data to advertisers; in fact the only relationship that Apple has with advertisers is through the Apple’s News app and some Appstore information (but never identifying information revealing who you are). 

Google makes money knowing as much about you as they can. They’re nothing but a glorified advertising company meaning that whatever Android device you use (or Chrome), say sayonara to whatever privacy you thought you had. They invented (arguably stole IP but definitely stole the design language from the iPhone) and licensed Android to manufacturers around the world where many are just getting by on slim margins so they were more than willing to make that Faustian bargain with Google to compete with Apple. There's perhaps one group I can think of that's worse than Google in protecting your privacy -- Chinese companies…

Hope this helps clear up any confusion.

Worried about being traced, or tracked? get rid of your smart phone.

Apple's own location tracking (Find my iPhone) no longer works very well ... so I wouldn't worry about it much.

Prior to a recent iOS change it worked well - but they decided to merge it with the LCD - "Find my Friends", and the end result is junk. I used it to track the whereabouts of my Kids, in case of emergency, but now... sorry, it's all over the place and doesn't update. If I had a daughter, I would not give her an iPhone because of this very issue.

@spongebod...

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/apples-hypocritical-defense-data-privacy/581680/