Digital contact tracing: large-scale geolocation data as an alternative to bluetooth-based Apps failure Articles uri icon

publication date

  • May 2021

start page

  • 1

end page

  • 11

issue

  • 9, 1093

volume

  • 10

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2079-9292

abstract

  • The currently deployed contact-tracing mobile apps have failed as an efficient solution in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. None of them have managed to attract the number of active users required to achieve efficient operation. This urges the research community to re-open the debate and explore new avenues to lead to efficient contact-tracing solutions. In this paper, we contribute to this debate with an alternative contact-tracing solution that leverages the already available geolocation information owned by BigTech companies that have large penetration rates in most of the countries adopting contact-tracing mobile apps. Our solution provides sufficient privacy guarantees to protect the identity of infected users as well as to preclude Health Authorities from obtaining the contact graph from individuals.

subjects

  • Industrial Engineering

keywords

  • covid-19; contact tracing; facebook; google; geolocation; privacy