MIT team races to perfect cellphone tracing of coronavirus – By Joe Dwinell (Boston Herald) / April 26 2020
Apple, Google join landmark Bluetooth project to help public health officials open up America
The smartphone could help the world get back to work.
MIT scientists are racing to harness Bluetooth technology to boost contact tracing of the coronavirus. This revolution in cellphone technology is being launched in Massachusetts, with MIT’s Lincoln Labs in Lexington playing a crucial part.
“The phone could save your life,” MIT’s Danny Weitzner, co-principal investigator of the Private Automated Contact Tracing (PACT) project, told the Herald.
Both Apple and Google have signed on, announcing Friday they are all in until the pandemic is over. The tech giants stressed “user privacy” is paramount, but so, too, is uniting against the killer COVID-19.
“This is a task for humanity to fight back against this virus,” MIT’s Ron Rivest told a panel of experts Zoomed-in this past week to brainstorm. He is PACT’s principal investigator, who Weitzner credited for dreaming up the idea of using Bluetooth technology — anonymously — to help trace coronavirus cases once the surge is over.
Continue to article: https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/04/26/mit-team-races-to-perfect-cellphone-tracing-of-coronavirus/
