Halifax Tech Company Can Use Your Smartphone To Track Covid Outbreaks
HALIFAX–For the last two years, offices across Canada have been all but shuttered as Covid-19 and its related public health restrictions led employers and employees to embrace remote working. But as restrictions are lifted, the white-collar labour force is heading back to its old stomping grounds.
But how to keep people safe and informed if future outbreaks occur? Using people’s memory for contact tracing is far from foolproof.
A Halifax tech company, B-line, has released a platform that can retrace people’s steps in a work environment, using Bluetooth sensors. B-line says tracking movement through such an app is accurate because most people carry their smartphones with them everywhere.
That means if someone did get sick with Covid, or a yet-to-be-known infectious disease, very accurate contact tracing can be executed.
“We can know exactly where people were within a space and get it within a foot of making direct or indirect contact with a person,” said Aaron Short, B-Line’s founder and CEO.
“We use AI to look at who you came into direct or indirect contact with and generate a report for the individuals, as well as the facility manager.”
The latest major client to adopt B-line’s platform is Area X.O, a research and design complex in Ottawa, Ontario. B-Line’s local clients include The PIER, at the Port of Halifax, where the company works.
Because this technology can track a person’s movement, Short admits he often gets questions about users’ privacy. But he insists B-Line takes the proper steps to respect people’s privacy.
“We use a privacy-first, privacy-by-design approach,” Short emphasized throughout his interview with Huddle. “The only reason you would be able to access the information is in the state of the emergency.”
Short also noted that no one is watching people’s movements live–the information is only accessed if it is ever needed. And even then, the contact tracing information is only shared with those who have been exposed and the building’s owner. Unless the employer also happens to own their own building, even they aren’t privy.
“Legally we are not allowed to share people’s personal information with the employer,” said Short. “We protect users because if people don’t trust us, then we can’t actually protect them.”
According to Short, a local consulting firm became a client of B-line due to the platform’s privacy measures.
“We did a privacy impact study with Barrington consulting group. They liked what we were doing so much they became a client,” he said.
B-Line’s platform does more than just trace people’s movement. The app allows employees to digitize access cards, so they can access the building with their smartphones. This way, there’s less of a risk of small, individual security cards getting lost or falling into the wrong hands.
The app can also help offices use their space more efficiently. With fewer people working at offices compared to before the pandemic, it can be vital for businesses to know which spaces are most needed.
“You have 500 people paying rent, only a hundred are showing up on a daily basis, because it’s now hybrid work,” observed Short. “How do you manage those people more effectively?”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].