New research reviews privacy issues linked to Covid-19 apps

Mobile apps are helping track the spread of Covid-19 to contain the outbreak, but the apps also raise concerns about personal privacy. A study published in Nature analysed 50 Covid-19-related apps available in the Google Play store for their access to users’ personal data and their privacy protections. It found that most of the apps required access to users’ personal data, but only a handful indicated the data would be anonymous, encrypted and secured. The study was conducted by information sciences professor Masooda Bashir and doctoral student Tanusree Sharma at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  They said: “What is disconcerting is