Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Apple, Google Unveil Technology for Covid-19 Exposure Alerts

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Categories: ASCF News National Preparedness Bipartisianship

Comments: 0

Apple Inc. AAPL 1.94% and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG 2.42% Google released technology Wednesday to help governments track the spread of Covid-19 through apps that notify users if they have been exposed to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.

The tech giants, which make the world’s dominant smartphone operating systems, jointly developed the protocol for apps that can use Bluetooth signals from mobile devices to identify those that have been near each other.

U.S. states including North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina, as well as 22 countries, have requested and received access to the newly released technology, the companies said.

The technology, which was previously released in beta versions, is intended to complement health workers’ use of conventional means to trace infected people’s contacts. The apps may need a high level of user adoption to effectively track Covid-19 outbreaks, public-health experts say.

Though Apple and Google are providing tools for developers, they aren’t releasing their own exposure-notification apps.

“We’re hoping that public health will find this tool helpful in improving speed and resources,” said a spokeswoman for the companies’ joint effort.

When two devices using apps based on the Apple-Google protocol come near each other, they exchange “keys,” or digital codes, through a Bluetooth signal. An app user who tests positive for Covid-19 can choose to share his or her diagnosis with public-health officials through the app, then upload the keys that his or her app has sent recently. The app will notify users who were exposed, so they can get tested.

This technique may help public-health departments track contact between strangers—a type of interaction that can often elude contact tracers, who must rely on an infected person’s memory to determine possible exposures.

Creating exposure-notification technology is a challenging and unprecedented endeavor, one undertaken by academic researchers and various private companies.

Apple and Google will prohibit apps that use their protocol from collecting a device’s location history. Some public-health agencies are opting not to use the companies’ technology because of that restriction, and instead are building apps that can use GPS location data.

Apple and Google have consulted with public-health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Earlier this month CDC released guidelines for contact-tracing apps, recommending functionality similar to what Google and Apple have designed.

In response to feedback, the tech giants have chosen to let health agencies customize a number of features, including what degree of proximity and length of exposure constitutes an exposure event. Public-health authorities may also contact exposed users through the app, using contact information that mobile-device users voluntarily provide.

To take advantage of the Apple-Google technology, each state or national government should commission a developer to build its official app.

Photo: Though Apple and Google are providing tools for developers, they aren’t releasing their own exposure-notification apps. - HECTOR RETAMAL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-google-unveil-technology-for-covid-19-exposure-alerts-11590001380?mod=tech_lead_pos4

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