Google to release your location data to help fight coronavirus pandemic

“In addition to other resources public health officials might have, we hope these reports will help support decisions about how to manage the COVID-19 pandemic,” Google said in a blog post. “This information could help officials understand changes in essential trips that can shape recommendations on business hours or inform delivery service offerings.”

The news comes as much of the world’s population is living under restrictions and lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more than 54,000 people globally and sickened more than one million, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

But Google’s move to release location data highlights concerns around privacy. According to Mark Skilton, director of the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Network at Warwick Business School in the UK, Google’s decision to use public data “raises a key conflict between the need for mass surveillance to effectively combat the spread of coronavirus and the issues of confidentiality, privacy, and consent concerning any data obtained.”

“Covid-19 is an emergency on such a huge scale that, if anonymity is managed appropriately, internet giants and social media platforms could play a responsible part in helping to build collective crowd intelligence for social good, rather than profit,” Skilton said.

In March, Google confirmed to CNN it was exploring ways to use aggregated, anonymized data to help in the coronavirus effort, as first reported by the Washington Post. Facebook (FB) also confirmed at the time it is working on similar efforts.