The Apple-Google Contact Tracing System Won’t Work. It Still Deserves Praise.

This article is part of Privacy in the Pandemic, a Future Tense series. In Europe, countries like France and the United Kingdom are pushing for aggressive digital contact tracing efforts that involve government collection of broad new caches of location data. With respect to digital contact tracing, success depends on at least four factors—four factors that suggest the Apple and Google system is not likely to be particularly effective in meeting the stated public health goals. Apple and Google have repeatedly emphasized that the use of their contact tracing systems will be opt-in only, meaning that they won’t be used unless people download compatible apps and them on. And while the Apple and Google system may not do much, the companies should be applauded for resisting new systems of centralized surveillance—and for turning the classic United States versus Europe story on its head.