In the fight against the new deadly coronavirus (COVID-19), which has spread all over the world and has killed 32,113 people so far, it has been monitored by governments. Finally, it has been suggested that a number of institutions in the US provide access to location data for iPhone users. The federal government, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local governments are getting reports on the status and behavior of smartphone users, according to the Wall Street Journal. Also in the news, it is stated that many government officials have access to the location data of millions of smartphone and mobile users. Movements in 500 American cities are being followed According to the report, it is aimed to collect location data in the American city, which has 500 in the scope of the project. While data traffic is being tracked, retail outlets and public areas where people are gathered will also be targeted. Some experts say that crowds are still gathering, for example, at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Data tracking is also expected to work on the economic effects of the outbreak. With location data, reductions in retail sales and motor vehicle travel can be detected. This data collection mechanism is different from the method announced by the 8 major telecom operators in Europe last week that it will share user location information with the European Commission. Government officials in the US obtain citizens’ location information from their mobile ad followers. In this method, a marketer keeps track of where his customer is physically going, allowing people to predict movement patterns and show them appropriate ads. This method, which Apple and privacy advocates objected, is worried that it will become widespread under the excuse of coronavirus. However, it is stated that the data is transmitted by anonymizing the users. In other words, the American state has the location information of a user, but he does not know the identity of the user. Some time ago, it was reflected in the media that the American government is considering obtaining similar data from Google and Facebook.
