The way back to normal starts here We all want to get out of the house. To reopen the economy. To feel secure again. Safe Paths builds tools that help communities flatten the curve of COVID-19 — together. CovidSafePaths.org

1. COVID Safe Paths
Privacy-Aware Contact Tracing
Towards Resilient Societies
Ramesh Raskar
Associate Professor
MIT Media Lab

2. Contact tracing: patient 31 in Korea
Without building a surveillance state?

3. Digital contact tracing
Safe Places
• Notify if you have crossed paths
• Send alert that provides location of
where contact may have occurred
• Use phones to look for GPS and
Bluetooth based proximity
Safe Paths

4. Google Maps
 Traffic
Health data  Predictions
Privacy
Utility

5. Google Maps
 Traffic
Health data  Predictions
Privacy
Utility

6. Privacy
Consent
Regulation
Trade Secrets
National Security
Incentive

7. GPS: Strava HeatMap
Anon + Aggregate but not Private

8. Bluetooth based proximity
Snooped by widespread third party apps

9. COVID SafePaths App
• Log Personal Trails in Diary
• Compare with Public Infection Cases Datav1
• Compare with redacted trails of Infection
Cases from Public Health Deptv2
• Reducing burden on health officials
using Self-Report, Authenticate,
Computational methods
v3

10. SafePaths Mobile App

11. Safe Places Web Tool
1. Patient 28 day trail with
health officials
2. The health official redacts PII
3. Anon/Aggr/Encrypted Trails
Faster and more accurate than
a traditional patient interview

12. SafePaths: Comprehensive toolkit for public health and re-entry solutions
Privacy Preserving Algorithms and Software Principles
Today
• Expedite tracing conversation
• Improve quality and accuracy of data
• Aggregates data for reporting
Today:
• Exposure notification
• Access to resources
• Ongoing Tracking
• Interface with public health
infection data
• Telecom
• GPS
• BlueTooth
(Apple/Ggl/PACT/Pepp-pt)
• Wifi
• Others
SafePaths App
SafePlaces WebTool
Coming Soon:
• Personalized guidance
• Symptom tracking
• Quarantine Verification
• Immunity Passport
• Corporate verifications
Coming Soon:
• Predict HotSpots, Spread Prediction
• Coordinate at-home population
• Integrated Dashboards
• Certification
Technology APIs

13. COVID SafePaths Alliance
MIT Safe Paths
• Ramesh Raskar, Sandy Pentland, Kent Larson, Kevin Esvelt
• Mentors: Amandeep Gill (I-DAIR), Bernardo Mariano Jr (WHO),
Brian McClendon, Don Rucker (HHS), and Subbu Subramanian,
Suraj Kapa (Mayo Clinic)
• Faculty Mentors: Ronald L. Rivest, Yael T. Kalai, Daniel J. Weitzner,
Hal Abelson, Jonathan Gruber, Nickolai Zeldovich, and Adi Shamir.
• Research Mentors: Yoshua Bengio (MILA), Richard Janda (McGill),
John Halamka (Mayo Clinic)
Path Check, Inc
• Greg Nadeau
• CovidWatch, OpenMined, CovidActNow
Volunteers
Collaboration Network

14. SafePaths Pillars
Technology
SafePaths Mobile App
SafePlaces WebTool
Open Source Code
API
Algorithms
Interoperable BackBone
Think Tank
Interoperability Standards
Privacy Guidelines
Landscape Analysis
Publications
Implementations
Public Health Engagements
Training and Monitoring
Venture Capital and Startups
Corporate Relations

15. Factor to Consider: Public Health IT Decisions
• Privacy-first
• Open Source
• Interoperable
• Multiple Language Support
• Support non-smartphone users/ Equity
• Ecosystem for Public Health
• Dashboard for hotspots/spread
• Modularity/ Ease of Use/ Integration

16. Google-Apple Proximity API: How it works
• Phones exchange keys by
whispering over Bluetooth
• Infected phone uploads keys to
beamed to server
• Health phone downloads
‘infected keys’ and find a match
with heard keys

17. COVID SafePaths will support
Google-Apple/ PACT Proximity API

18. GPS vs Bluetooth
Tech
• Needs multimodal (GPS + BT + WiFi)
• BT requires large adoption (12% adoption = 1.44% encounters)
• GPS scales linearly (12% adoption = 12% of sites on SafePlaces)
• Inclusivity: Users who do not have smartphone can lean encounters over TV/SMS
• False positives: person from neighboring office
• False negatives: phones left behind  risky behavior
Not proximity but tracing
• User: Context for belief, Where? (wearing mask? Shook hands?)
• Public health needs: heat maps, spread analysis
Beyond Tracing
• Public health needs: Quarantine verification, Health verification, Immunity passport

19. US Guidance

20. Choreographed by Govt & Businesses
Private Tools for Coordination among Communities
Public
Health
Restart
Economy
Resilient
Society

21. COVID Safe Paths
Privacy-Aware Contact Tracing
Towards Resilient Societies
Ramesh Raskar
Associate Professor
MIT Media Lab