Researchers and Doctors around the globe are working tirelessly to find a solution to curb the deadly outbreak of Coronavirus and prevent it from spreading further. Although there are no substantial solutions that have been found yet to control this virus except generic precaution to avoid getting contact with an infected individual.
A group of MIT researchers has developed a mobile application that confirms if you’ve crossed paths with a person infected with this virus. The Mobile app named Private Kit: Safe Paths, will help curb the spread of this contagious virus by sharing the personal data with other users of this application. This app has open-source code and available free of cost on both Android and IOS platforms.
Private Kit: Safe Paths works by sharing the encrypted location data between different users without being controlled by a central authority to avoid the privacy and data breach. A person who is diagnosed positive for Covid-19 can share the location data with concerned healthcare officials and they have the authority to make it public anonymously. It will help users identify the location that is at risk of spreading coronavirus and let them know if they crossed path with someone having infected with this virus. This app will enable people to share information without revealing personal information to ensure maintain their privacy.
With the help of this app, it would be easy to identify a specific location having a probability of infection. Moreover, the healthcare officials could disinfect the concerned place rather than locking down a complete city as that usually results in an economical disruption on a wide-scale along with public inconveniences. The developer team of this application expecting to see a substantial impact on the ground in curbing the spread of this virus. However, this could be possible only through the mass adoption of this mobile app. The previous alert about a location at risk of this virus will help people avoid this particular place while maintaining daily activity. On the contrary, wrong identification of an infected place could trigger a panic in public, furthermore, if the app missed a place having infection may increase the chances of spreading this virus. Private Kit: Safe Path could be immensely helpful in halting the rapid spread of this deadly virus if used with caution and proper care.
Stacy is the Hardware Editor at Get Ignite. She worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where she served as the Managing Editor. Her writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. She hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares her Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.
