Digital Contact Tracing: Large-Scale Geolocation Data as an Alternative to Bluetooth-Based Apps Failure

Contributors: José González-Cabañas, Ángel Cuevas, Rubén Cuevas, Martin Maier
Year: 2021
Venue:
Abstract:
The currently deployed contact-tracing mobile apps have failed as an efficient solution in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. None of them have managed to attract the number of active users required to achieve efficient operation. This urges the research community to re-open the debate and explore new avenues to lead to efficient contact-tracing solutions. In this paper, we contribute to this debate with an alternative contact-tracing solution that leverages the already available geolocation information owned by BigTech companies that have large penetration rates in most of the countries adopting contact-tracing mobile apps. Our solution provides sufficient privacy guarantees to protect the identity of infected users as well as to preclude Health Authorities from obtaining the contact graph from individuals.
Repository link: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/9/1093
Download: PDF file

This project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the ICT theme: ICT-13-2018-2019 - Supporting the emergence of data markets and the data economy.
Grant Agreement No. 871370

Project

Start Date: 01/12/2019
End Date: 30/08/2022
Cost: € 6.208.953,75
UE Funding: € 5.240.830,13
Project Identifier: H2020-871370
Estimated Effort: 723 PM

Project Coordinator

Marco Mellia
Politecnico di Torino - Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET)
Email: marco.mellia@polito.it