Contact tracing by app: life-saving or invasion of privacy?

The Care19 mobile app, which the governors of North Dakota and South Dakota have asked residents to download to assist in contact tracing during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), is seen on a phone, US. Though civil liberties experts signal they’re exceedingly happy with Apple and Google’s approach, they warn that if stakeholders aren’t careful and the public doesn’t remain vigilant, there could be a state-by-state mishmash of different applications – some of which could cross the line into invasive surveillance. — Reuters

For many Americans, it’s only a matter of weeks before the cellphones in their pockets start measuring how close they’ve come to Covid-19.

But advocates, scientists and researchers are monitoring the spread of something they deem to be important, too, and that's how close these mobile applications come to invading privacy and encroaching on civil liberties.