Google just revealed how much it knows about you, where you go, and what you do.
In an effort to help the federal government slow the spread of the coronavirus, the tech giant announced on Friday that it would release COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports or localized location data tracking maps.
Using data Google has collected from its users, the COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports website will track and show population data, breaking it down into six categories: retail and recreation, grocery and pharmacy, parks, transit, workplaces, and residential areas. The data will be updated every 48 to 72 hours, Google said.
Its first community mobility report, for example, states that San Francisco County’s residential population — or, people remaining in their homes — experienced a 21% increase between Feb. 16 and March 29, while the population traveling to retail and recreation parts of the county has decreased by 72%.
This data is supposed to aid the federal government’s efforts to contain and mitigate coronavirus, but the implications are frightening. Not only is Google tracking our movements, but it is also releasing those movements for the world to see.
It’s important to understand that this tracking is necessary to a certain extent. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has argued for limited case-based containment tracking, in which the government would use an app to help enforce isolation in specific neighborhoods with lots of known cases. South Korea and Israel have already adopted this kind of program, and it’s worked.
But Gottlieb’s proposal is limited in a way that Google’s is not. The social distancing app Gottlieb references would apply only to those infected with COVID-19. Google’s tracking data applies to everyone — infected or not. The tech company has said that its data is aggregated, meaning it cannot show the exact number of people who go to the grocery store on a Saturday morning in San Francisco county.
This isn’t enough. We need additional restrictions and checks to make sure that Google’s temporary solution does not become an indefinite problem. Gottlieb’s proposed limitation, to track only those who are infected, would be a good place to start. Another smart measure would be assigning an expiration date to the COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports so that Google does not continue to use this program.
We knew that defeating this virus would require temporary sacrifices, and most Americans have willingly accepted that cost. But now we need to make sure those sacrifices don’t outlast the coronavirus.
