WILL IT HELP?

Tech Companies Discuss Sharing Smartphone Data With Government to Fight Coronavirus: Report

The Trump administration is reportedly in discussions with tech companies to potentially share smartphone location and movement data.

The Trump administration is in discussions with Facebook, Google and other tech companies about potentially sharing smartphone location and movement data with the government in an effort to fight the spread of the coronavirus, CNBC reports. A task force of 60 companies is reportedly working alongside the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of American Innovation in the possible effort to collect location data. Officials reportedly believe that smartphone data could predict the next wave of COVID-19 cases and could point to where additional health resources are needed. Companies reportedly involved in effort include Facebook, Google, Twitter, Uber, Apple, and IBM. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Google have not commented publicly on the matter. Verily, part of Google’s parent company Alphabet, told CNBC it was not using mobile geo-location tracking for its current coronavirus program.