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- Apple and Google detail bold and ambitious plan to track COVID-19 at scale - Ars Technica
- Six tips for looking great in a Zoom meeting - USA TODAY
- Ask Engadget: What's your must-have tech for working from home? - Engadget
| Apple and Google detail bold and ambitious plan to track COVID-19 at scale - Ars Technica Posted: 11 Apr 2020 05:35 AM PDT  Google In a bold and ambitious collaboration, Apple and Google are developing a smartphone platform that tries to track the spread of the novel coronavirus at scale and at the same time preserve the privacy of iOS and Android users who opt in to it. The cross-platform system will use the proximity capabilities built into Bluetooth Low Energy transmissions to track the physical contacts of participating phone users. If a user later tests positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, she can choose to enter the result into a health department-approved app. The app will then contact all other participating phone users who have recently come within six or so feet of her. The system, which Google and Apple described here and here respectively, applies a technological approach to what's known as contact tracing, or the practice of figuring out everyone an infected individual has recently been in contact with. A recently published study by a group of Oxford researchers suggested that the novel coronavirus is too infectious for contact tracing to work well using traditional methods. The researchers proposed using smartphones, since they're nearly ubiquitous, don't rely on faulty memories of people who have been infected, and can track a nearly unlimited number of contacts of other participating users.Mitigating the worstBut while mobile-based contact tracing may be more effective, it also poses a serious threat to individual privacy, since it opens the door to central databases that track the movements and social interactions of potentially millions, and possibly billions, of people. The platform Apple and Google are developing uses an innovative cryptographic scheme that aims to allow the contact tracing to work as scale without posing a risk to the privacy of those who opt into the system. Privacy advocates—with at least one notable exception—mostly gave the system a qualified approval, saying that while the scheme removed some of the most immediate threats, it may still be open to abuse. "To their credit, Apple and Google have announced an approach that appears to mitigate the worst privacy and centralization risks, but there is still room for improvement," Jennifer Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a statement. "We will remain vigilant moving forward to make sure any contact tracing app remains voluntary and decentralized, and used only for public health purposes and only for the duration of this pandemic." Unlike traditional contact tracing, the phone platform doesn't collect names, locations, or other identifying information. Instead, when two or more users opting into the system come into physical contact, their phones use BLE to swap anonymous identifier beacons. The identifiers—which in technical jargon are known as rolling proximity identifiers—change roughly every 15 minutes to prevent wireless tracking of a device. As the users move about and come into proximity with others, their phones continue to exchange these anonymous identifiers. Periodically, the users' devices will also download broadcast beacon identifiers of anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been in the same local region. In the event someone reports to the system that she has tested positive, her phone will contact a central server and upload identifiers of all the users she has come into contact with over the last 14 days. The server then pushes a notification to the affected users. The following two slides help illustrate at a high level how the system works.  Google  Google Apple and Google are providing other assurances, including:
How it works (in theory)Jon Callas, a cryptography expert and senior technology fellow at the ACLU, told me that the scheme is similar to the way raffle tickets work, with one party getting half of a paper ticket, the other party getting the other half, and—in theory at least—no one else being the wiser. When two phone users come into physical proximity, they BLE transmitters exchange tickets. Callas said that a similar COVID-19 tracking scheme known as the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing appears to work roughly the same way. "I keep a list of all the tickets I have," he said. "If Alice tests positive, she releases her tickets and if ones that I have match, I know I had a contact with a positive person." Callas went on to caution that ambiguities in the flow of both the Apple-Google platform and the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing leave open the possibility of abuse because it's not yet clear which parties get access to which tickets. "If Alice releases the tickets she sent and the ones she received, she's outing the people who were near her," he said. Callas said he was involved in development of a third tracking scheme known as PACT, short for Private Automatic Contact Tracing. By contrast, he said, it has assurances that parties can only release sent tickets. Begging to differMoxie Marlinspike, a hacker and developer who has both broken advanced crypto schemes and built them, was among the most vocal critics of the scheme as laid out. In a twitter thread that analyzed the way the APIs and cryptography interacted, he raised serious doubts about the plan. "So first obvious caveat is that this is 'private' (or at least not worse than BTLE), *until* the moment you test positive," he wrote in one tweet. "At that point all of your BTLE mac addrs [BLE MAC addresses] over the previous period become linkable. Why do they change to begin with? Because tracking is already a problem."
Marlinspike, who is the creator of the Signal encrypted messenger app and the CEO of of the the company that stewards it, said the next weakness is the amount of data that might have to be transmitted to user phones:
Another possible weakness: trolls can frequent certain areas and then report a false infection, leading large numbers of people to think they may have been exposed. A variation is relaying BLE IDs collected from a hospital or other targeted area. Technologist and privacy advocate Ashkan Soltani provided additional privacy critiques in this Twitter thread:
Soltani provided other useful details here and here. Reading the specsThe cryptography behind the anonymous and ever-changing identifiers are laid out in this specification, which among other things assures that:
A separate Bluetooth specification, meanwhile, requires that:
Coming to a phone near youApple and Google plan to release iOS and Android programming interfaces in May. They will be available public health authorities for developing apps running on one mobile operating system to work with apps running on the other. The official apps will then be available for download in Apple's App Store and Google Play. Eventually, the companies plan to introduce tracing functionality directly into the OSes. Presumably, users can activate the functionality with a setting change. Besides the privacy risks, there are other potential flaws. The system could cause undue alarm if it sends a warning that someone was exposed, when in fact the other party was dwelling in the same apartment building but in separate units. Bluetooth is also prone to a variety of flaws that can compromise its reliability and occasionally its security. There are many important details that aren't yet available and are crucial to understanding the privacy risks of the system Apple and Google are building. In normal times, it might be a given to advise people to opt out. Given the global health crisis presented by the ongoing pandemic, the call will be much harder to make this time around. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Six tips for looking great in a Zoom meeting - USA TODAY Posted: 11 Apr 2020 05:53 AM PDT We all want the same things in life. We want to look great, be safe, happy, and might I add, look great? In our new normal of the COVID-19 era, many of us have turned to the webcam and video meetings in place of school, work conferences, and many of us are spending our days on video conferences hosted by Zoom, Hangouts, Skype, FaceTime, WebEx and the like. And many of you are probably looking into the picture window at yourself and saying, "really? I look that bad?" It doesn't have to be that way. We checked in with Florida photographer Larry Becker, who just wrote a book about how to improve our appearance called "Great on Camera," for some insights.  Appearance Start with the basics. Comb your hair, shave your face or apply your makeup and think strategically about your clothing. Wearing a really busy plaid or patterned outfit will make the viewers' eyes go numb. A plain, solid color will help bring out the best you. However, Becker says to steer clear of shirts that are bright white or dark black because they look like a "blob" on camera. Lighting Here's where most people fail in web conferences. They have what Becker calls "Shady Face," that is, half of their face is shaded or blocked in some way. He recommends having one steady lamp, directly by your face, for even, steady lighting. No sidelight or backlight, please, he adds. He suggests, as we have several times, to avoid sitting with your back to the window, as the camera will expose for the light and make you into a silhouette. Instead, flip it, and face the window, which will give you soft, people-pleasing light. Background You want people focusing on your face, not on what's behind you. Many people like to be photographed in front of a bookshelf, but Becker says sometimes the "trinkets" on the shelf will cause distractions. He likes it "plain and simple," like blank walls, or a wall with nothing but one piece of art hanging. Becker photographs himself in front of bricks, which he calls "boring" and thus non-distracting. Perspective Here's the biggest no-no. Get rid of what he calls "Wide-angle face." The cameras on smartphones and webcams are wide-angle, meaning they let you in a wide view. So if you get too close to it, you will look distorted. In other words, step back from the camera. "The closer you are to a wide-angle, the more distorted you are."  Eye Level Don't have the webcam looking up at you, because that will turn you into "Look up my nostrils dude." Let's put it this way. The camera under the face is the oldest unflattering look in the books. It's what director James Whale did in the original 1931 "Frankenstein" movie to make the monster look more menacing. Some people recommend having the camera look down at you, but Becker doesn't buy it. "Eye to eye contact is the best connection," Look that camera directly, straight ahead. How to do that when the webcam is physically below your eye? Stack a bunch of books under your laptop until you see the webcam eye to eye.  Sound While we just told you to step away and not be so close, don't be so far away that the microphone won't hear you. Remember to put the kids and other sound distractions in another room during your meeting, if you can. And, this is a huge one: Don't forget to mute the microphone when listening. Otherwise, everybody gets to hear you typing away. For improved audio, Becker recommends using an accessory mic, which will make you sound way better. You can pick up a microphone that plugs into the USB port of your laptop for $99 and up (we like the Rode NT-USB mic as a starter) or, even better, for $20, he recommends a small lapel mic, the Movo LV1, that connects directly into the microphone jack of your laptop. In Zoom, you can go into general settings and adjust the audio, to pick your accessory mic instead of the mic from the webcam. Finally, we wrote earlier this week about the great webcam shortage of 2020. Many people have discovered that if they're going to be on Zoom and other video conferences all day, they want to look their best. Laptop webcams are ultra low-resolution, and for $100 to $200, you can get way better specs, and more presentable with a separate webcam. Sad to report that the situation hasn't gotten any better. Logitech, which dominates webcam manufacturing, is still sold out of all of its products. The Brio, which broadcasts in 4K resolution and normally sells for $199, is sold out on Amazon except from third-party resellers, who are asking $359 and up. On eBay, bids are starting in the $275 to $350 range.  What to do? Try one of the classified sites, like Craigslist, Letgo or Facebook Marketplace for a used, reasonably priced model, or pull that old DSLR out of the closet and connect it to the computer to use instead. This is way more complicated than using a webcam, but a software site like eCamm is compatible. YouTuber Adrian Salisbury has a tutorial on how-to here.  In other tech news this weekGoogle and Apple teamed up to help combat coronavirus with "contact tracing" technology apps to help determine if people you know have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Samsung introduced new lines of smartphones starting at $109. The A series is the company's low-priced answer to the higher-priced Galaxy S line. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he would donate $1 billion for COVID relief. Verizon and Cox Cable ended in-person visits, turning to smartphone apps to communicate with customers instead. This week's Talking Tech podcastsHow to record a podcast remotely. Photographer Jan Schrieber helps test the various methods to record, with the apps Zencastr and Cleanfeed, Voice Memos and Anchor. The great webcam shortage of 2020 Samsung's $110 smartphone Zoom alternatives for schools iPhone won't recognize you in a mask Follow USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham (@jeffersongraham) on Twitter. |
| Ask Engadget: What's your must-have tech for working from home? - Engadget Posted: 11 Apr 2020 05:09 AM PDT  This week we're asking you for answers. COVID-19 has altered the workplace in a variety of ways, with a lot of people now working from home, possibly for the first time. We've already shared our recommendations for must-have home-office tech — now we want to hear from you. Whether it's a VPN, a Wacom tablet or even something as simple as a lap desk (I love my lap desk), share your best advice with your fellow readers. Weigh in with your advice in the comments — and feel free to send your own questions along to ask@engadget.com! |
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