As state and local restrictions begin to relax, the essential questions for many people are remarkably similar to what we asked in March. What will work? How can I protect myself, my family, and others?
Certainly, government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic are crucial. Yet it is self-defeating to turn to government agencies in all matters, even matters of security and public health information. Instead, we must enlist as many people as possible to generate information needed to regain our footing and find solutions.
Contact tracing provides timely, personalized information when an individual’s risk of infection has increased. It is a system to identify, find, and quarantine anyone who has been in contact with a contagious person. Technology-enabled contact tracing could diminish waves of uncertainty and unify hundreds of millions of people around shared objectives.
Today, 70% of people in the United States own a smartphone, and that connectivity can improve protection against the coronavirus for all of us. But only if they choose to participate and trust the source of information.
Enter private enterprise to organize a response to a critical emergent demand.
The superpower of markets, beyond the unparalleled power to generate and distribute wealth, is the coordination of overwhelming amounts of information to point people toward socially beneficial behavior, such as providing needed goods and services for others.
More than 500 apps are currently under development to augment traditional contact tracing. Scale matters. Therefore, there may only be one or a handful of successful entrants. Among the slew of new apps, the eventual leaders will only aid economic recovery and rebuild our confidence to interact safely if they address the twin challenges of competence and capacity.
Competence is quintessentially pragmatic: Does it work?
Technically, it matters little whether an app is developed by software engineers who work for private enterprise or a government agency. The same goes for private research initiatives, nonprofit centers, or university programs. Either the product works, or it does not. The private sector does not have a monopoly on engineering talent.
Nonetheless, we believe a robust system, rigorously tested and continuously updated, is more likely to emerge from the private sector than from a government agency or a risk-averse and resource-constrained university setting.
The key to system capacity is sufficient participation. A contact tracing program simply will not work if a significant proportion of the population does not participate. In turn, participation depends on valid assurances and personal security.
Government involvement, especially with public safety agencies or data security functions, is rightly a non-starter for tens of millions of people who prioritize civil liberties.
But can we reap the benefits of a semiautomated tracing program reliant on voluntary participation and data entry? Can a private initiative like the proposed system from Google and Apple reassure enough users to create sufficient high-quality information to improve health outcomes? We think so.
Independently, Google and Apple have earned widespread public trust. One recent national survey showed stratospheric public approval for the companies, at 90% and 81%. When it comes to collecting and storing randomized and anonymous information, they behave like organizations especially concerned with reputational value, which they make regular investments to bolster. With consumer-switching costs for software and hardware exceptionally low, tech companies must continue to guard reputation as a critical asset.
Reputation alone is not enough to persuade skeptical citizens to participate in a massive data-sharing experiment. But it is likely enough for consideration. Once they understand how a program or app works, consumers are experts at weighing the trade-offs of participation. From loyalty programs to mapping tools built into our vehicles and smartphones, we do it all the time.
Privacy assurances must be balanced against risk and against the companies’ track records. Unlike programs with government involvement, private initiatives can credibly pledge, clearly and unambiguously, to protect anonymity, limit data retention and sharing, and to implement transparency measures.
As demonstrated by scandals such as the leak of millions of files from the federal Office of Personnel Management and Department of Veterans Affairs, or political targeting by the IRS, the capacity for a technological pandemic response resides outside the scope of government.
Let’s leverage private initiative to enlist millions of people to the common purpose of discovering life after lockdown.
Patrick Hedger is a research fellow, and Kent Lassman is the president at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
