States and healthcare organizations around the world are working hard to cooperate with the COVID-19 outbreak so that we can regain our normal lives more quickly. Even though it is not in sight of collaboration that everyone tries to do their best, software developers also play an important role and help save more lives with the technologies they develop. Google and Apple have also announced that they are working together in a study that enables the use of Bluetooth technology by putting user privacy and security at the center of the business to help governments and healthcare organizations reduce the spread of the virus. As you know, many countries have launched curfews, quarantines and partial quarantine practices, as COVID-19 can be transmitted more quickly in close contact. Since fewer contacts are a crucial factor in controlling the spread of the virus, a large number of public institutions, universities and non-governmental organizations are working hard to develop optional contact tracking technology, and examples of these prevention technologies in China and even some social media. We began to see in Turkey according to their shares. Apple and Google are preparing to sign a comprehensive collaborative solution that includes APIs (application programming interfaces) and operating system-level technologies to help track contact, to further advance these efforts. While this solution is planned to be implemented in two stages in order to respond to the urgent need, of course, it is planned to provide a strong protection in terms of user privacy. As the first step of the two-step solution, applications that users can download from the Apple and Android application markets will be released in May. In order for these applications to work together on different operating systems, public health officials will be used in the APIs, which will be developed in cooperation with Apple and Google. As the second phase of the solution, Apple and Google will work together to integrate this functionality into key platforms and offer a wider Bluetooth-based contact tracking platform. This phase will be a stronger solution than the API and will optionally allow more individuals to participate while interacting with a wider application ecosystem and official health officials. Of course, personal data protection law, people’s permission and transparency will be the most important topics. For this very reason, Google and Apple state that they will publicly publish all information about the work so that the relevant people, institutions and organizations can review. It is a truly appreciative development that world giants take a big step towards the biggest (!) And most urgent health problem facing the world we live in and start a joint study. It can be said that it is too late for such a move, but on the other hand, we do not yet know how different problems giants like Google and Apple might have for us as consumers in the future. For this reason, health officials should think about these companies when opening their data and the rules of the game should be determined at the beginning.
