Editor's note: This article has been rewritten to address a misinterpretation of the terms and their applicability. The error is regretted. Google and Apple have updated their terms of service for their contact tracing API (Application Protocol Interface), which allows governments to develop contact tracing apps, to limit the scope of their data collection, following worldwide criticism of the surveillance threat that contact tracing can pose. What's also interesting, from a tech-politics perspective, is that this means that Google and Apple are imposing their norms, on what governments can and cannot do with their API. Importantly, this is not going to have an impact on Aarogya Setu, given that it uses its own APIs for contact tracing. These terms will only be applicable to Aarogya Setu should it choose to deploy the Google-Apple APIs. Here's now the terms of the Google-Apple API compare with those of Aarogya Setu: Key changes in terms and how they compare with Aarogya Setu 1. One per country: Contact tracing apps, using the Googe-Apple API has been limited to one app per country, unless the country has a regional approach. Comparison with India: India has rolled out a single contact tracing app in Aarogya Setu, but other apps have also been deployed in the country. Some of them, such as in Karnataka are for managing quarantined patients. Read: Checks and balances for Privacy in a pandemic 2. Purpose limitation and data sharing: The app which uses Google-Apple API has to be exclusively used for COVID-19…
