U.S. government reportedly in talks with tech companies on how to use location data in COVID-19 fight

U.S. government officials are currently in discussion with a number of tech companies, including Facebook and Google, around how data from cell phones might provide methods for combatting the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a new Washington Post report. The talks also include health experts tracking the pandemic and its transmission, and one possible way in which said data could be useful is through aggregated, anonymized location data, per the report’s sources.

Location data taken from the smartphones of Americans could help public health experts track and map the general spread of the infection, the group has theorized, though of course the prospect of any kind of location tracking is bound to leave people uncomfortable, especially when it’s done at scale and involves not only private companies with which they have a business relationship, but also the government.

These efforts, however, would be strictly aimed at helping organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) get an overview of patterns, decoupled from any individual user identity. The Post’s sources stress that this would not involve the generation of any kind of government database, and would instead focus on anodized, aggregated data to inform modelling of the COVID-19 transmission and spread.

Already, we’ve seen unprecedented collaboration among some of the largest tech companies in the world on matters related to the coronavirus pandemic. Virtually every large tech company that operates a product involved in information dissemination came together on Monday to issue a statement about working closely together in order to fight the spread of fraud and disinformation about the virus.

The White House has also been consulting with tech companies around the virus and the U.S. response, including via a meeting last week that included Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been in regular contact with the current administration as his company is increasingly playing a central and important role in how people are dealing with essentially global guidelines of isolation, social distancing, quarantine and even shelter-in-place orders.

Earlier this week, an open letter co-signed by a lengthy list of epidemiologists, excecutives, physicians and academics also sought to outline what tech companies could contribute to the ongoing effort to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the measures suggested (directed at mobile OS providers Apple and Google specifically) is an “opt-in, privacy preserving OS feature to support contact tracing” for individuals who might have been exposed to someone with the virus.

Of course, regardless of assurances to the contrary, it’s natural to be suspicious of any widespread effort to collect personal data. Especially when it’s historically been the case that in times of extreme duress, people have made trade-offs about personal freedoms and protections that have subsequently backfired. The New York Times also reported this week on an initiative to track the location data of people who have contracted the virus using an existing, previously undisclosed database of cellphone data from Israeli cellphone selfie providers and their customers.

Still, there’s good reason not to instantly dismiss the idea of trying to find some kind of privacy-protecting way of harnessing the information available to tech companies, since it does seem like a way to potentially provide a lot of benefit – particularly when it comes to measuring the impact of social distancing measures currently in place.

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Android app reviews may slow to over a week due to COVID-19 impacts, Google warns developers

Google this week warned Android developers that Play Store app review times will be much longer than normal due to the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Developers should expect app reviews to take up to a week or even longer, the company informed its community by way of an alert on the Google Play Console.

This slowdown in moderation efforts isn’t something that’s just impacting Google Play.

Yesterday, YouTube announced it would more heavily rely on its automated systems during this time, which meant more videos will likely be taken down by machine learning-powered systems before they received a review from a human moderator.

In both cases, the slowdowns are related to the reduced in-office staffing levels — a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is impacting employee scheduling at Google and elsewhere.

Up until now, Google Play had a fairly quick app review process.

For years, the company differentiated its Play Store from Apple’s App Store by allowing developers to publish without a lengthy review. This, of course, led to issues as the store was over-filled with low-quality and sometimes even malicious apps. In 2015, Google revealed it had begun to utilize an internal team of reviewers to analyze apps for policy violations prior to publication.

Despite the change in process, apps were being approved within hours instead of days, Google said at the time.

That changed last year, however, as the company implemented a more stringent review. It then began to advise developers to plan for review times of at least three days between submission and the app going live. But the length was reduced for established, trusted developers who continued to see faster reviews, Google had noted.

Review times of a week or even longer are unprecedented, much like the COVID-19 crisis itself.

News of the increased app reviews was first reported by Android Police.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the delay to TechCrunch, saying: “Due to adjusted work schedules at this time, we are currently experiencing longer than usual review times. While the situation is currently evolving, app review times may fluctuate, and may take 7 days or longer.”

The delay is also confirmed in the Play Console’s Help documentation.

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Apple now says its retail stores are closed “until further notice”

Apple appears to be expecting a longer disruption to shopping at its physical retail stores as a result of the public health crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, in a press release, the iPhone maker said it would be closing retails stores outside China until March 27. A note on its website now says the shut down is open ended. Apple writes that the bricks-and-mortar stores “are closed until further notice” — so at very least it’s signalling to customers to expect ongoing disruption to its retail business as usual.

Those looking to buy Apple products are told to shop on the website. Service and support is also offered online or via telephone.

We’ve reached out to Apple to ask for confirmation on a policy change.

In its March 13 missive, the company wrote that it is committed to paying all its hourly workers as if the stores remained open, and also said it was expanding its leave policies to “accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19”.

Late yesterday six Bay Area countries issued a ‘shelter in place’ order to restrict potential spread of the novel coronavirus. Additional measures seem likely in the coming days.

Multiple countries in European Union have already ordered the closure of non-essential shops — instructing residents to stay at home unless they need to venture out to obtain essential supplies or are required to work and cannot work from home.

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Apple now says its retail stores are closed “until further notice”

Apple appears to be expecting a longer disruption to shopping at its physical retail stores as a result of the public health crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, in a press release, the iPhone maker said it would be closing retails stores outside China until March 27. A note on its website now says the shut down is open ended. Apple writes that the bricks-and-mortar stores “are closed until further notice” — so at very least it’s signalling to customers to expect ongoing disruption to its retail business as usual.

Those looking to buy Apple products are told to shop on the website. Service and support is also offered online or via telephone.

We’ve reached out to Apple to ask for confirmation on a policy change.

In its March 13 missive, the company wrote that it is committed to paying all its hourly workers as if the stores remained open, and also said it was expanding its leave policies to “accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19”.

Late yesterday six Bay Area countries issued a ‘shelter in place’ order to restrict potential spread of the novel coronavirus. Additional measures seem likely in the coming days.

Multiple countries in European Union have already ordered the closure of non-essential shops — instructing residents to stay at home unless they need to venture out to obtain essential supplies or are required to work and cannot work from home.

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YC-backed EduRev wants to democratize online learning in India

As edtech startups emerge and expand in India, millions of students in the country now have an additional option to choose from when they prepare for competitive exams.

But despite the proliferation of cheap Android handsets and availability of some of the world’s cheapest mobile data plans, online learning platforms in India are struggling to appeal to the masses because their offering is too expensive for many.

EduRev, a Y Combinator-backed startup (W20), thinks it can address this. The three-year-old startup offers an all-you-can watch catalog in a Netflix-esque fashion that costs between $20 to $50 a year — compared to anything between $300 to $4,000 that other platforms charge.

The startup has partnered with teachers around the country to make their classes — aimed at primary school to high-school and to students preparing for undergraduate-level course — available on the platform.

Students can come and consume some of this content — which includes notes, previous year exam papers, mock tests, and class videos — for no charge, but access to full-course and additional catalogs requires becoming a subscriber, explained Kunaal Satija, co-founder of EduRev, in an interview with TechCrunch.

“Most of the classes in India are not efficient. The vast majority of students are not really learning much. There is also a severe lack of good teachers in the country. And if offline to online transition did not already have a learning curve attached to it, it is also expensive,” he said.

To replicate the traditional learning experience, EduRev also has a social aspect to it. Students can follow their friends and track their progress and participate in helping other students clear their doubts and pose their own questions. These features are available to non-paying users as well.

The price and wider-catalog availability, Satija said, has helped the startup gain millions of users. The platform has amassed over 5 million registered users, more than 1.5 million of which come to the platform each month, he said.

He declined to share how many paying users EduRev currently has, but said the startup has been operationally profitable for last four months.

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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been in regular contact with the White House on coronavirus pandemic

During a White House briefing on Monday detailing new recommendations regarding public health from the administration’s coronavirus task force and the CDC, President Trump was asked by a member of the press corps about reports that the White House is in “daily” contact with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos regarding the COVID-19 epidemic.

Trump’s answer wasn’t exactly a clear confirmation, but did seem to indicate that the Amazon founder and chief executive has been working with the White House in some capacity as the situation develops. Upon request for clarification, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that “Jeff Bezos has been in contact with the White House” regarding the coronavirus epidemic.

“Well I’ve heard that’s true,” Trump said during the briefing. “I don’t know that for a fact. But I know that some of my people have, as I understand it, been dealing with them or with him. And that’s nice. We’ve had tremendous support from a lot of people that can help, and I believe he was one of them.”

Last week, Fox Business first reported that the White House would be meeting with large tech companies in an effort to help coordinate efforts to contain the virus, and that those meetings would include Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter, Apple and Microsoft.

It’s still not clear in what capacity Bezos is working with the White House on the coronavirus pandemic, but Amazon is clearly feeling the impact of the global virus outbreak, including a surge in demand that’s led to it seek to hire 100,000 additional employees for warehouse and delivery in the U.S.

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You can ask to skip your Apple Card payment for March, Apple tells customers

Apple and Goldman Sachs will allow Apple Card holders to skip their March payment without incurring interest by signing up for a Customer Assistance Program, Apple is informing its customers. Existing cardholders were alerted to the option via an email sent out over the weekend which explains that, in light of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 situation, some customers may have trouble making their usual payment.

“Apple Card is committed to helping you lead a healthier financial life,” the email said.

To join the Customer Assistance Program, Apple Card customers can either click the link in the email (here) or message or call an Apple support rep directly through the Apple Wallet app.

The process of joining the program via iMessage is fairly simple. After clicking the link, an automated message responds: “We understand how difficult this could be for you, and we want to help.”

You’re then directed to connect with Goldman Sachs to continue enrollment.

After clicking on the link that’s sent, you receive a second automated iMessage text that explains what the Customer Assistance Program offers — specifically, a way to skip a payment without incurring interest. It then asks if you’d like to join.

Once you request to join, Apple says you can expect to receive a confirmation email in the next few days when your enrollment is complete. No further action is needed.

Though the sign-up process is straightforward — and even easier through iMessage than having to place a call — it’s harder to get questions about the program answered via iMessage chat. In a test, we asked the Apple chatbot a question, and it said: “Let me get you to an Apple Specialist at Goldman Sachs.” That was over an hour ago, as of the time of writing, and no support rep has yet to answer.

Getting personal support via the provided phone number (1-877-255-5923) was much easier, despite what one rep described as a “surge” in call volumes. After you’re informed of the option to join the program via the automated phone system, you can opt to press 2 to connect to a support rep directly. Surprisingly, there was little hold time as of this afternoon — a rep answered almost right away.

We understand the program doesn’t have any sort of limit in terms of the balance on your card at the time you’re requesting a waiver. But reps couldn’t provide any information as to how asking for a waiver would impact your credit report or score. During natural disasters, however, there’s a process for lenders to flag customers who have been affected so non-payments won’t negatively damage their credit.

Reps also couldn’t say if the program would continue into April, as that’s not something that’s been decided yet.

Apple Card isn’t the only card waiving payments.

Citi said earlier this month it had assistance programs in place for customers, including credit-line increases and collection forbearance. PNC Bank, Capital One, Bank of America, Chase, Discover, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Fifth Third, and others, also recently alerted customers about their respective offers to help during the coronavirus outbreak.

Amex told us it’s helping customers, too, when asked.

“American Express is ready to assist our customers having financial difficulties due to the effects of COVID-19. They can reach our Customer Care Professionals anytime by calling the number on the back of their card or through our digital servicing channels – online chat or the Amex app,” a spokesperson said. The company said it would work with customers individually on things like waiving late fees, return check fees, and interest charges.

“We have several financial hardship programs offering a range of short-term to long-term assistance,” they added.

According to NerdWallet’s guide to protecting your finances during the coronavirus outbreak, several other lenders and credit card issuers may be working with customers on an individual basis, too.

“Besides working with customers on a one-on-one basis, some banks are making some changes across the board. Citi, for example, began waiving a number of fees on March 9 for 30 days, including bank account monthly service fees and penalties on early CD withdrawals,” a NerdWallet spokesperson noted. “Take advantage of these offerings if you need help, because they can take some of the burden off your plate and give you time to regroup and create a plan for yourself going forward,” they said.

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