It’s a race against time.As communities start to open, governments are rushing to put together smartphone apps that can be part of their arsenal to curtail the spread of COVID-19.But the apps — and the technologies they rely on — vary, and for many that has led to confusion about what to expect.“It’s overwhelming how many proposals are coming out,” Gennie Gebhart, associate director of research at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said. “There’s total alphabet soup of different acronyms, of different technologies. And it’s hard to understand exactly what is what. And I think that’s because it’s still early days.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyGennie Gebhart, associate director of research at the Electronic Frontier FoundationTracking your proximity to an exposureAt the moment, there’s not yet an app available in the United States that lets someone know if they’ve been exposed to someone testing positive for COVID-19. Around the world, Singapore, Australia and other nations have released apps that do this but with varying success.The main proposal for a consumer app comes from Apple and Google, which together create the operating systems for most smartphones in the world. They have joined forces to release software tools so that governments can make an app that will help with letting people know if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19.Their approach relies on Bluetooth, a short-range radio frequency inside a smartphone. Phones with the app will store the Bluetooth beams they receive from other phones and check daily a database of those who have reported testing positive. If there is a match – that someone has been too close for too long to a person with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 – the person learns about it and can contact a health professional to find out the next steps to take.Privacy advocates such as the ACLU and EFF support this approach, which keeps data decentralized and anonymized. Bluetooth doesn’t provide information to public health departments.GPS location data approachBut some states, such as North and South Dakota, as well as Utah, are looking to apps for a different purpose — to help with their contact tracing efforts. That’s when public health workers contact people who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. These apps rely on GPS location data, which can reveal information about a person’s movements, as well as the Bluetooth proximity information.With the Dakotas app, Care 19, if a person consents, their location data is shared with local public health officials. More than 45,000 residents of Utah – about 2 percent of the state’s population – have signed up for its state app, Healthy Together, according to CNBC.To download or not?Gebhart, of EFF, said there are an array of questions people might want to consider before they download a COVID-19 app. How much data is collected? Are users allowed to turn it on and off, or uninstall it at will?“There needs to be trust for the system to work for people to want to adopt it and want to interact with it,” she said.In many ways, the apps proposed have been unproven and untested, Gebhart said. But as governments open society again, this public health technology experiment may play a role in whether residents can begin to safely venture out.
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A Taiwan-based company is planning a $12 billion semiconductor factory in the U.S. state of Arizona.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is the world’s largest contract manufacturer of computer chips.The firm said Friday the factory will create as many as 1,600 jobs. Thousands more jobs are expected to be created along the supply lines to support production of the 5-nanometer chips.The factory will be able to produce 20,000 of the wafers each month. They’re used in an array of consumer electronics, including the iPhones and defense equipment.Construction of the facility is to begin next year, and the location in Arizona has not been determined.“This project,” the company said, “is of critical, strategic importance to a vibrant and competitive U.S. semiconductor ecosystem that enables leading U.S. companies to fabricate their cutting-edge semiconductor products within the United States.”The firm has another U.S. factory in Washington state.U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross lauded the plan as showing the success of President Donald Trump’s programs.The company’s plan to set up the facility, he said, “is yet another indication that President Trump’s policy agenda has led to a renaissance in American manufacturing and made the United States the most attractive place in the world to invest.”Also praising the move was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said the facility will “increase U.S. economic independence, bolster our safety and competitiveness, and strengthen our leadership in high-tech manufacturing.”“This historic deal also strengthens our relationship with Taiwan, a vibrant democracy and force for good in the world,” he said.TSMC’s stock rose more than 1.5 percent Friday morning which outperformed the 0.8 percent gain in the main Taiwan stock market.  
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An Australian parliamentary report has debunked a conspiracy theory linking COVID-19 to 5G technology. Anti-lockdown protesters in Australia and beyond have claimed a connection between the new coronavirus and the rollout of the mobile communications standard.The COVID-19 pandemic has brought disparate groups of conspiracy theorists together. Some believe the disease was deliberately spread around the world to force vaccines on to the population as a form of control. Others assert that a Harvard University professor was arrested for creating and selling the coronavirus to China. Still others insist that 5G technology is the true cause of COVID-19. It was a view that was reportedly first promoted in a social media video in March and has been shared widely on the internet.However, linking the new coronavirus to radio waves simply is not true, according to a report by an Australian parliamentary communications committee. It found that 5G technology was safe. E-communications experts said linking COVID-19 to radio waves “has no basis in science” and is “biologically and physically impossible.” This is a view shared by the World Health Organization and other authorities. They have found that 5G radiation can’t penetrate skin or allow a virus to penetrate skin.In Australia, New South Wales state health officials have asserted that COVID-19 was not spread through mobile networks or wireless technology but through infected droplets from coughing or sneezing, or by contact with contaminated hands, surfaces or objects.Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, has also dismissed a link between 5G networks and the disease.“There is unfortunately a lot of very silly misinformation out there,” Murphy said. “There is absolutely no evidence about 5G doing anything in the coronavirus space. I have unfortunately received a lot of communication from these conspiracy theorists myself. It is complete nonsense. 5G has got nothing at all to do with coronavirus.”Academics say that fake news and misinformation seem to be spreading as fast and as far as the virus itself. Uncertainty and fear breed confusion, and, as one expert said, “conspiracy theories offer an emotionally satisfying narrative” if even they are not true.There have been small protests in Australia by groups angry at lockdown measures, and at the government’s coronavirus mobile phone tracing app. Demonstrators in Melbourne also sought to link an outbreak of the virus at a meat plant to a nearby telephone tower.Efforts are being made to sort the truth from the misinformation. YouTube has said it will do more to remove content linking 5G technology to COVID-19.
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An Australian parliamentary report has debunked a conspiracy theory linking COVID-19 to 5G technology. Anti-lockdown protesters in Australia and beyond have claimed a connection between the new coronavirus and the rollout of the mobile communications standard.The COVID-19 pandemic has brought disparate groups of conspiracy theorists together. Some believe the disease was deliberately spread around the world to force vaccines on to the population as a form of control. Others assert that a Harvard University professor was arrested for creating and selling the coronavirus to China. Still others insist that 5G technology is the true cause of COVID-19. It was a view that was reportedly first promoted in a social media video in March and has been shared widely on the internet.However, linking the new coronavirus to radio waves simply is not true, according to a report by an Australian parliamentary communications committee. It found that 5G technology was safe. E-communications experts said linking COVID-19 to radio waves “has no basis in science” and is “biologically and physically impossible.” This is a view shared by the World Health Organization and other authorities. They have found that 5G radiation can’t penetrate skin or allow a virus to penetrate skin.In Australia, New South Wales state health officials have asserted that COVID-19 was not spread through mobile networks or wireless technology but through infected droplets from coughing or sneezing, or by contact with contaminated hands, surfaces or objects.Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, has also dismissed a link between 5G networks and the disease.“There is unfortunately a lot of very silly misinformation out there,” Murphy said. “There is absolutely no evidence about 5G doing anything in the coronavirus space. I have unfortunately received a lot of communication from these conspiracy theorists myself. It is complete nonsense. 5G has got nothing at all to do with coronavirus.”Academics say that fake news and misinformation seem to be spreading as fast and as far as the virus itself. Uncertainty and fear breed confusion, and, as one expert said, “conspiracy theories offer an emotionally satisfying narrative” if even they are not true.There have been small protests in Australia by groups angry at lockdown measures, and at the government’s coronavirus mobile phone tracing app. Demonstrators in Melbourne also sought to link an outbreak of the virus at a meat plant to a nearby telephone tower.Efforts are being made to sort the truth from the misinformation. YouTube has said it will do more to remove content linking 5G technology to COVID-19.
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Colombia’s commerce regulator will be investigating whether Chinese-owned social media app TikTok complies with laws on the collection and treatment of children’s and adolescents’ personal data.The announcement Tuesday came four days after the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) said it would begin looking into how TikTok handles the data of its millions of young users.TikTok has achieved monumental success during the COVID-19 outbreak, with millions of people worldwide using the platform for entertainment and content creation during the crisis.Owned by Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok is estimated to have between 500 million and 1 billion users. The platform allows these users to create and share short videos using filters and effects provided by the app.The app has come under increasing scrutiny by governments across the globe.”The superintendency is seeking to establish if TikTok Pte Ltd. has demonstrably implemented the principle of responsibility in the treatment of data from Colombian citizens who use its services,” the Columbian Superintendency of Industry and Commerce said in a statement posted on its website.Minors, who are the app’s largest demographic, are afforded special protections under Colombia’s constitution, the statement said.The Dutch watchdog, DPA, has also expressed concerns about TikTok’s protection of its users’ private information.  “For many users, this is an important way of staying in touch with friends and spending time together, particularly during the current coronavirus crisis,” the DPA said. “The rise of TikTok has led to growing concerns about privacy.”The DPA highlighted the vulnerability of minors online and is poised to investigate if the app clearly states how it uses data and whether “parental consent is required for TikTok to collect, store and use children’s personal data,” and “examine whether TikTok adequately protects the privacy of Dutch children,” it said in a statement.
 
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Retailers are turning to robots to perform essential tasks that employees are no longer able to do because of social distancing regulations. The robots are cutting costs and helping to reduce the spread of infections. But as VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports, some fear the growing use of automation threatens jobs just as unemployment soars.
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As governments and communities around the world respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, Google and other tech giants have been tracking the dramatic changes in the mobility of people as they cope with lockdown measures.  Reporter Veronica Balderas Iglesias talked to residents in and around Washington, D.C., to find out where people are going these days, and why.
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As governments and communities around the world respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, Google and other tech giants have been tracking the dramatic changes in the mobility of people as they cope with lockdown measures.  Reporter Veronica Balderas Iglesias talked to residents in and around Washington, D.C., to find out where people are going these days, and why.
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