MIT Media Lab prototypes location-based notification app

At the MIT Media lab, Ramesh Raskar is leading a team that includes software engineers at companies such as Facebook and Uber to develop the free and open source app Private Kit: Safe Paths. The app is intended to share encrypted information between phones in the network without going through a central authority so that individuals can see if they've come in contact with someone carrying the coronavirus. Anyone who tests positive can choose to share location data with health officials, who can then make it public and close off and disinfect those areas. For the app to successfully help slow the spread, however, enough people have to use it; incomplete information could create a false sense of security. 

Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615372/coronavirus-infection-tests-app-pandemic-location-privacy/

Writer: Will Douglas Heaven
Publication: MIT Technology Review