A Scalable Approach to Reducing Gender Bias in Google Translate

Posted by Melvin Johnson, Senior Software Engineer, Google Research

Machine learning (ML) models for language translation can be skewed by societal biases reflected in their training data. One such example, gender bias, often becomes more apparent when translating between a gender-specific language and one that is less-so. For instance, Google Translate historically translated the Turkish equivalent of “He/she is a doctor” into the masculine form, and the Turkish equivalent of “He/she is a nurse” into the feminine form.

In line with Google’s AI Principles, which emphasizes the importance to avoid creating or reinforcing unfair biases, in December 2018 we announced gender-specific translations. This feature in Google Translate provides options for both feminine and masculine translations when translating queries that are gender-neutral in the source language. For this work, we developed a three-step approach, which involved detecting gender-neutral queries, generating gender-specific translations and checking for accuracy. We used this approach to enable gender-specific translations for phrases and sentences in Turkish-to-English and have now expanded this approach for English-to-Spanish translations, the most popular language-pair in Google Translate.

Left: Early example of the translation of a gender neutral English phrase to a gender-specific Spanish counterpart. In this case, only a biased example is given. Right: The new Translate provides both a feminine and a masculine translation option.

But as this approach was applied to more languages, it became apparent that there were issues in scaling. Specifically, generating masculine and feminine translations independently using a neural machine translation (NMT) system resulted in low recall, failing to show gender-specific translations for up to 40% of eligible queries, because the two translations often weren’t exactly equivalent, except for gender-related phenomena. Additionally, building a classifier to detect gender-neutrality for each source language was data intensive.

Today, along with the release of the new English-to-Spanish gender-specific translations, we announce an improved approach that uses a dramatically different paradigm to address gender bias by rewriting or post-editing the initial translation. This approach is more scalable, especially when translating from gender-neutral languages to English, since it does not require a gender-neutrality detector. Using this approach we have expanded gender-specific translations to include Finnish, Hungarian, and Persian-to-English. We have also replaced the previous Turkish-to-English system using the new rewriting-based method.

Rewriting-Based Gender-Specific Translation
The first step in the rewriting-based method is to generate the initial translation. The translation is then reviewed to identify instances where a gender-neutral source phrase yielded a gender-specific translation. If that is the case, we apply a sentence-level rewriter to generate an alternative gendered translation. Finally, both the initial and the rewritten translations are reviewed to ensure that the only difference is the gender.

Top: The original approach. Bottom: The new rewriting-based approach.

Rewriter
Building a rewriter involved generating millions of training examples composed of pairs of phrases, each of which included both masculine and feminine translations. Because such data was not readily available, we generated a new dataset for this purpose. Starting with a large monolingual dataset, we programmatically generated candidate rewrites by swapping gendered pronouns from masculine to feminine, or vice versa. Since there can be multiple valid candidates, depending on the context — for example the feminine pronoun “her” can map to either “him” or “his” and the masculine pronoun “his” can map to “her” or “hers” — a mechanism was needed for choosing the correct one. To resolve this tie, one can either use a syntactic parser or a language model. Because a syntactic parsing model would require training with labeled datasets in each language, it is less scalable than a language model, which can learn in an unsupervised fashion. So, we select the best candidate using an in-house language model trained on millions of English sentences.

This table demonstrates the data generation process. We start with the input, generate candidates and finally break the tie using a language model.

The above data generation process results in training data that goes from a masculine input to a feminine output and vice versa. We merge data from both these directions and train a one-layer transformer-based sequence-to-sequence model on it. We introduce punctuation and casing variants in the training data to increase the model robustness. Our final model can reliably produce the requested masculine or feminine rewrites 99% of the time.

Evaluation
We also devised a new method of evaluation, named bias reduction, which measures the relative reduction of bias between the new translation system and the existing system. Here “bias” is defined as making a gender choice in the translation that is unspecified in the source. For example, if the current system is biased 90% of the time and the new system is biased 45% of the time, this results in a 50% relative bias reduction. Using this metric, the new approach results in a bias reduction of ≥90% for translations from Hungarian, Finnish and Persian-to-English. The bias reduction of the existing Turkish-to-English system improved from 60% to 95% with the new approach. Our system triggers gender-specific translations with an average precision of 97% (i.e., when we decide to show gender-specific translations we’re right 97% of the time).

We’ve made significant progress since our initial launch by increasing the quality of gender-specific translations and also expanding it to 4 more language-pairs. We are committed to further addressing gender bias in Google Translate and plan to extend this work to document-level translation, as well.

Acknowledgements:
This effort has been successful thanks to the hard work of many people, including, but not limited to the following (in alphabetical order of last name): Anja Austermann, Jennifer Choi‎, Hossein Emami, Rick Genter, Megan Hancock, Mikio Hirabayashi‎, Macduff Hughes, Tolga Kayadelen, Mira Keskinen, Michelle Linch, Klaus Macherey‎, Gergely Morvay, Tetsuji Nakagawa, Thom Nelson, Mengmeng Niu, Jennimaria Palomaki‎, Alex Rudnick, Apu Shah, Jason Smith, Romina Stella, Vilis Urban, Colin Young, Angie Whitnah, Pendar Yousefi, Tao Yu

An ode to living on Earth | Oliver Jeffers

An ode to living on Earth | Oliver Jeffers

If you had to explain to a newborn -- or an alien -- what it means to be a human being living on Earth in the 21st century, what would you say? Visual artist Oliver Jeffers put his answer in a letter to his son, sharing pearls of wisdom on existence and the diversity of life. He shares observations of the "beautiful, fragile drama of human civilization" in this poetic talk paired with his original illustrations and animations.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

Google Cloud’s fully-managed Anthos is now generally available for AWS

A year ago, back in the days of in-person conferences, Google officially announced the launch of its Anthos multi-cloud application modernization platform at its Cloud Next conference. The promise of Anthos was always that it would allow enterprises to write their applications once, package them into containers and then manage their multi-cloud deployments across GCP, AWS, Azure and their on-prem data centers.

Until now, support for AWS and Azure was only available in preview, but today, the company is making support for AWS and on-premises generally available. Microsoft Azure support remains in preview, though.

“As an AWS customer now, or a GCP customer, or a multi-cloud customer, […] you can now run Anthos on those environments in a consistent way, so you don’t have to learn any proprietary APIs and be locked in,” Eyal Manor, the VP of engineering in charge of Anthos, told me. “And for the first time, we enable the portability between different infrastructure environments as opposed to what has happened in the past where you were locked into a set of API’s.”

Manor stressed that Anthos was designed to be multi-cloud from day one. As for why AWS support is launching ahead of Azure, Manor said that there was simply more demand for it. “We surveyed the customers and they said, hey, we want, in addition to GCP, we want AWS,” he said. But support for Azure will come later this year and the company already has a number of preview customers for it. In addition, Anthos will also come to bare metal servers in the future.

Looking even further ahead, Manor also noted that better support for machine learning workloads in on the way. Many businesses, after all, want to be able to update and run their models right where their data resides, no matter what cloud that may be. There, too, the promise of Anthos is that developers can write the application once and then run it anywhere.

“I think a lot of the initial response and excitement was from the developer audiences,” Jennifer Lin, Google Cloud’s VP of product management, told me. “Eric Brewer had led a white paper that we did to say that a lot of the Anthos architecture sort of decouples the developer and the operator stakeholder concerns. There hadn’t been a multi-cloud shared software architecture where we could do that and still drive emerging and existing applications with a common shared software stack.”

She also noted that a lot of Google Cloud’s ecosystem partners endorsed the overall Anthos architecture early on because they, too, wanted to be able to write once and run anywhere — and so do their customers.

Plaid is one of the launch partners for these new capabilities. “Our customers rely on us to be always available and as a result we have very high reliability requirements,” said Naohiko Takemura, Plaid’s head of engineering. “We pursued a multi-cloud strategy to ensure redundancy for our critical KARTE service. Google Cloud’s Anthos works seamlessly across GCP and our other cloud providers preventing any business disruption. Thanks to Anthos, we prevent vendor lock-in, avoid managing cloud-specific infrastructure, and our developers are not constrained by cloud providers.”

With this release, Google Cloud is also bringing deeper support for virtual machines to Anthos, as well as improved policy and configuration management.

Over the next few months, the Anthos Service Mesh will also add support for applications that run in traditional virtual machines. As Lin told me, “a lot of this is is about driving better agility and talking the complexity out of it so that we have abstractions that work across any environment, whether it’s legacy or new or on-prem or AWS or GCP.”

Google’s hybrid cloud platform is coming to AWS and Azure

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Google Meet launches improved Zoom-like tiled layout, low-light mode and more

Google Meet, like all video chat products, is seeing rapid growth in user numbers right now, so it’s no surprise that Google is trying to capitalize on this and is quickly iterating on its product. Today, it is officially launching a set of new features that include a more Zoom-like tiled layout, a low-light mode for when you have to make calls at night and the ability to present a single Chrome tab instead of a specific window or your entire screen. Soon, Meet will also get built-in noise cancellation so nobody will hear your dog bark in the background.

If all of this sounds a bit familiar, it’s probably because G Suite exec Javier Soltero already talked to Reuters about these features last week. Google PR is usually pretty straightforward, but in this case, it moved in mysterious ways. Today, though, these features are actually starting to roll out to users, a Google spokesperson told me, and today’s announcement does actually provide more details about each of these features.

For the most part, what’s being announced here is obvious. The tiled layout allows web users to see up to 16 participants at once. Previously, that number was limited to four and Google promises it will offer additional layouts for larger meetings and better presentation layouts, as well as support for more devices in the future.

For the most part, having this many people stare at me from my screen doesn’t seem necessary (and more likely to induce stress than anything else), but the ability to present a single Chrome tab is surely a welcome new feature for many. But what’s probably just as important is that this means you can share higher-quality video content from these tabs than before.

If you often take meetings in the dark, low-light mode uses AI to brighten up your video. Unlike some of the other features, this one is coming to mobile first and will come to web users in the future.

Personally, I’m most excited about the new noise cancellation feature. Typically, noise cancellation works best for noises that repeat and are predictable. Think about the constant drone of an airplane or your neighbor’s old lawnmower. But Google says Meet can now go beyond this and also cancel out barking dogs and your noisy keystrokes. That has increasingly become table stakes, with even Discord offering similar capabilities and Nvidia RTX Voice now making this available in a slew of applications for users of its high-end graphics cards, but it’s nice to see this as a built-in feature for Meet now.

This feature will only roll out in the coming weeks and will initially be available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education users on the web, with mobile support coming later.

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Google adds a universal watchlist for movies and TV to Google Search

Google is adding a new feature to Search that will help you keep track of all the TV shows and movies you want to watch during these long weeks at home. The company had already been offering personalized TV and movie recommendations in Search, as of an update released last fall. Building out a watchlist with your top picks is the obvious next step.

To get started, mobile users can first search “what to watch” to get Google’s suggestions. The are organized at the top of the search results, and can be filtered by type (show or movie), by whether the content is free, by category (comedy, action, documentary, sitcom, kid-friendly, etc.), and by provider. Google also offers a rating experience where you train its algorithms on what sort of content you like and dislike.

For any movie or show you want to then add to your list, you just tap “Watchlist” in the preview window. (You can also tap “Watched” if it’s something you’ve already seen.

The new Watchlist is available as second tab at the top of this What to Watch section, and can be accessed any time you’re searching for something to buy, rent or stream. You can also search for “my watchlist” on Google or tap on “Collections” from within the Google app to access your list more quickly.

At launch, Google had said the TV and movies feature was designed to further the company’s larger goal of helping connect people with the information they need — it was not offering the data to advertisers. But by placing a regularly-used feature like this within Google, users will spend more time on Google’s platform which helps Google’s business.

While Google’s version of watchlist concept is handy for more casual users, a number of dedicated mobile apps offer an expanded experience and, at times, more accurate and more granular recommendations. For example, TV Time not just makes recommendations but also lets you check off which episodes you’ve watched from a series and participate in a mobile forum of sorts with other fans. Reelgood, Watchworthy, Taste, Bingeworthy, Likewise, itcher, Hai, and many other apps also offer show and movie suggestions to varying degrees of success.

Reelgood even recently launched a feature called Reelgood Remote which will instantly play the content you choose on your Roku device.

Google’s new Watchlist feature was one of several additions rolling out today focused on entertainment.

On Android TV devices, it also added three new home screen rows from YouTube, including COVID-19 News, Stay Home #WithMe, and free movies from YouTube. Android TV also gained more collections from Google Play while streaming apps are now organized under a row titled “Stream the shows and movies you love.”

Plus, on Google Play, the company introduced a collection of special deals, including offers on apps for movies, TV and comics, among other things. There are offers for game streaming service Stadia and subscription service Google Play Pass, as well.

The Google Watchlist feature is live now on mobile devices.

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As more high-end smartphone makers explore budget devices, Motorola takes a shot at premium

As smartphone sales began to plateau and slow over the past couple of years, many device makers arrived at the same conclusion: people want cheaper phones. It’s clear why companies like Apple and Samsung took the message to heart, as the smartphone market downturn appeared to coincide with the standardization of $1,000 premium devices.

While Motorola is undoubtedly best known for its budget devices these days, the company is using the opportunity to take things in an entirely different direction. The Edge+ finds the company entering true premium territory with the arrival of its first $1,000 device. It’s an even more dramatic move than OnePlus’s recent release of the $899 8 Pro.

A mainstay in the budget and mid-tier, the Motorola name doesn’t exactly conjure images of premium products. The Lenovo-owned smartphone maker’s ventures in pricier models have tended more toward the gimmicky — or, at very least niche — with the warmly received modular Moto Z and the largely panned foldable Razr reboot.

The Edge+ is a more earnest approach to premium. The selling points are the camera, display and 5G — pretty standard fare these days in the world of premium handsets. For the first time in recent memory, Motorola is positioning itself to go head-to-head with the Samsungs and Apples of the world. 

Okay, so specs. There’s a 6.7-inch display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 90Hz refresh rate. It’s curved on the sides — similar to what Samsung has been offering for a while now. And like Samsung, the company is using that extra narrow real estate to offer up things like notifications, call alerts, alarms and battery status. Basically stuff to offer a quick view without having to pick up the phones.

There’s a flagship-level Snapdragon 865 inside, coupled with a healthy 12GB of memory. Oh, and there’s 5G here, too, with access to both mmWave and sub-6GHz  bands. The company is also touting the quality of its speakers — one of the most overlooked aspects of smartphone hardware. I haven’t actually tried them out — or seen the phone in person yet. Social distancing and all that.

There are three rear-facing cameras, including a massive 108-megapixel main, which lets in a lot of light, an eight-megapixel telephoto and 16-megapixel ultra-wide angle. There’s no devoted macro camera, unlike other recent Motorola models, but the 16-megapixel should be able to do some close-up shots.

The Edge+ arrives May 14 as a Verizon exclusive (something Motorola has, unfortunately, done many times before) in the States and on a bunch more carriers in Canada. It will arrive in Europe in May, and other markets, including India and Latin America, at a latter date.

A lower-tiered Edge will be available with a downgraded processor and camera array, but the same display. That’s coming to Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, with U.S. availability arriving later. 

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Google adds a universal watchlist for movies and TV to Google Search

Google is adding a new feature to Search that will help you keep track of all the TV shows and movies you want to watch during these long weeks at home. The company had already been offering personalized TV and movie recommendations in Search, as of an update released last fall. Building out a watchlist with your top picks is the obvious next step.

To get started, mobile users can first search “what to watch” to get Google’s suggestions. The are organized at the top of the search results, and can be filtered by type (show or movie), by whether the content is free, by category (comedy, action, documentary, sitcom, kid-friendly, etc.), and by provider. Google also offers a rating experience where you train its algorithms on what sort of content you like and dislike.

For any movie or show you want to then add to your list, you just tap “Watchlist” in the preview window. (You can also tap “Watched” if it’s something you’ve already seen.

The new Watchlist is available as second tab at the top of this What to Watch section, and can be accessed any time you’re searching for something to buy, rent or stream. You can also search for “my watchlist” on Google or tap on “Collections” from within the Google app to access your list more quickly.

At launch, Google had said the TV and movies feature was designed to further the company’s larger goal of helping connect people with the information they need — it was not offering the data to advertisers. But by placing a regularly-used feature like this within Google, users will spend more time on Google’s platform which helps Google’s business.

While Google’s version of watchlist concept is handy for more casual users, a number of dedicated mobile apps offer an expanded experience and, at times, more accurate and more granular recommendations. For example, TV Time not just makes recommendations but also lets you check off which episodes you’ve watched from a series and participate in a mobile forum of sorts with other fans. Reelgood, Watchworthy, Taste, Bingeworthy, Likewise, itcher, Hai, and many other apps also offer show and movie suggestions to varying degrees of success.

Reelgood even recently launched a feature called Reelgood Remote which will instantly play the content you choose on your Roku device.

Google’s new Watchlist feature was one of several additions rolling out today focused on entertainment.

On Android TV devices, it also added three new home screen rows from YouTube, including COVID-19 News, Stay Home #WithMe, and free movies from YouTube. Android TV also gained more collections from Google Play while streaming apps are now organized under a row titled “Stream the shows and movies you love.”

Plus, on Google Play, the company introduced a collection of special deals, including offers on apps for movies, TV and comics, among other things. There are offers for game streaming service Stadia and subscription service Google Play Pass, as well.

The Google Watchlist feature is live now on mobile devices.

Read Full Article

Install Ubuntu on Your Computer Using a USB Flash Drive

Ubuntu is the most popular Linux operating system available today. It’s relied on by businesses around the world and is most people’s first Linux experience.

Whether you’re looking to switch from Windows to Ubuntu, setting up a new computer, or creating a virtual machine, you’ll need to install Ubuntu first.

The easiest way to get started is to install Ubuntu from a USB stick. Here’s how.

1. Download Ubuntu

Linux is part of the open-source community, meaning that anyone can help develop the software and contribute to the code. To complement this, Linux operating systems like Ubuntu are available for free.

This means you can get a copy of Ubuntu to use on any PC, laptop, or server, free of charge directly from the Ubuntu website. You are presented with several options, but for home use, you’ll want to download Ubuntu Desktop.

There’s a choice to make here, too. There are two editions of Ubuntu Desktop; the latest release and a Long Term Support (LTS) version.

New editions of Ubuntu are released every six months and are supported for nine months. LTS editions of the operating system are released every two years and are supported for five years.

LTS releases are more suitable for professional or server environments, where the risk of change is higher. For home use, you can stick with the standard Ubuntu release.

Clicking on your chosen edition will download an ISO file containing the Ubuntu operating system.

Download: Ubuntu (Free)

2. Install balenaEtcher

There are many programs for Windows 10, macOS, and Ubuntu to create bootable USB drives. Ubuntu even has a built-in option, Startup Disk Creator. However, one of the easiest options is to use cross-platform software like balenaEtcher.

The program is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux and is open-source and free to download and use. The macOS edition requires installation. However, balena offers a portable version for Windows. The Linux program is available as an AppImage, which also doesn’t need installing.

Unlike many of the third-party options available, balenaEtcher is easy to use and has a simple user interface. This is crucial, as some programs make it far too easy to accidentally erase your entire hard drive.

Download: balenaEtcher (Free)

3. Create Installation Media

Once you’ve installed balenaEtcher, you’ll need to create the installation USB stick. To do this, you’ll require a device with a minimum of 4GB of storage space to install Ubuntu.

Insert your chosen flash drive into your computer, and open balenaEtcher. The creation process will format your USB drive, so be sure to backup or copy any data on the disk before continuing.

Launch balenaEtcher on your computer and a dialogue screen will open, showing a three-part process. The first step is to click on Select image and navigate to where you saved the Ubuntu ISO and select it. The next stage is to Select target. From the drop-down menu, select your chosen USB drive.

After making those two choices, the third stage will become available. Select Flash and follow the on-screen prompts to begin the operation.

Overall, the process is the same whether you use a Windows, macOS, or Linux PC. However, if you create the installation media on a macOS device, you’ll need to format the USB drive using Apple’s Disk Utility first.

Before opening Etcher, navigate to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Insert your USB drive and select it in Disk Utility. From the toolbar, choose Erase.

This will open a dialogue where you need to set the format to MS-DOS (FAT) and the scheme to GUID Partition Map. Once selected, click Erase. You can then open Etcher and continue with the installation process detailed earlier.

4. Reboot to The Installation Media

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Once balenaEtcher has finished it’s flashing operation, it’s time to move on to installing Ubuntu from your USB drive. To do this, you’ll need to reboot your computer into your newly-created installation media.

Across all platforms, this means you’ll need to use your computer’s bootloader or BIOS to prioritize the Ubuntu USB drive during boot.

The simplest option for Windows users is to use your computer’s BIOS screen to boot from your USB drive. To do this, you’ll want to change the boot order on your PC. If Ubuntu is your current operating system, you can use the GRUB Boot Loader to select the USB drive instead.

The process is slightly different if you use a macOS device. To get things running, restart your Mac with the USB drive inserted. As the computer powers on, hold the Option/Alt key to access Apple’s Startup Manager. From this screen, select your Ubuntu USB stick.

Once your computer knows to boot from the USB drive, you can begin the Ubuntu installation.

5. Follow the Ubuntu Setup

After the Ubuntu installer has loaded, you have a choice to make. Clicking Install Ubuntu will begin the installation. However, you can also select Try Ubuntu to boot into a live version of the operating system.

This lets you try out the popular Linux distro without installing it. However, if you shut down the computer, it will not save data in this mode, so it is only for testing out Ubuntu before installation.

Once you have selected Install Ubuntu, you should follow the on-screen prompts from the installer. This will guide you through the type of installation you want (Standard or Minimal), where to install the operating system, and whether to download updates.

Further into the installation, you’ll get a choice of whether to format your hard drive or install Ubuntu alongside another operating system. If you choose the latter, you’ll also need to select how much space you wish to give your new Linux installation, and whether to create a new partition.

After the files have finished copying from your USB drive, the installation will guide you through account creation, including naming your PC and setting a password. When the installation is complete, you’ll be asked to restart your computer.

From there, boot into your new Ubuntu installation and enjoy the Linux experience.

Installing Linux From a USB Stick

In years gone by, installing Ubuntu required technical experience and knowledge of the Linux Terminal. However, the installation process is now reasonably painless, so you can get your Linux machine up and running without delay.

It’s not always possible to install software on your machine, especially if you’re using company-owned hardware. In this case, you may want to consider using one of the best Linux distros to install on a USB stick.

Read the full article: Install Ubuntu on Your Computer Using a USB Flash Drive

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10 Cross-Platform Mobile Multiplayer Games to Play With Friends

If you and your friends can’t agree on whether Android or iOS is better for mobile gaming, don’t worry. There’s actually no need to choose between them, because cross-platform games can be played on both operating systems.

So, the next time you’re looking for multiplayer games to play with friends, try these cross-platform mobile titles…

1. Spaceteam

Spaceteam is the one game on this list that requires all your friends to be in the same physical space.

In Spaceteam, you and your friends are the crew of a spaceship and everything’s going wrong. To stay on course, you’ll need to work together by shouting different made-up space commands to each other. The speed and the chaos ramp up and up, until you all inevitably crash and die, only to be awarded medals posthumously. But it’s fun while it lasts.

Download: Spaceteam for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

2. Words With Friends 2

The sequel to the acclaimed Words With Friends is more like an update.

Of course, there’s the regular Words With Friends experience that you’re used to, where you and a friend or online stranger take turns trying to rack up points on a board by spelling out words Scrabble-style.

However, while Words With Friends 2 keeps everything you loved about the first version, it adds a few new modes for a different sort of challenge.

Lightning Round pits two teams of five against each other to see who can come up with a certain score in the fastest amount of time. Solo Challenge lets you play against challenging bots to win a virtual prize. Finally, Words With Friends Live drops in with HQ Trivia-style questions during your game.

Download: Words With Friends 2 for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

3. Vainglory

A MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) similar to League of Legends, Vainglory lets you team up in 5v5 or 3v3 modes against other players or bots.

Choose from one of over 40 heroes and go head to head against another team to destroy their Vain crystal before they destroy yours. Travel through the jungle destroying enemy turrets and minions, using your special powers and working together as a team.

Download: Vainglory for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. Teamfight Tactics

Riot Games’ auto chess title provides a competitive experience with familiar League of Legends’ champions. Draft and play champions while aiming to create the best team.

With full cross-platform support, play normal or ranked matches together with your friends as you learn what are the best synergies and items together.

Download: Teamfight Tactics for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

5. Minecraft

Originally referred to as the Pocket Edition, the mobile version of Minecraft is almost identical to the PC version. The only major differences being that you can’t connect third-party mods or use third-party servers. Also, typically, any update that comes out for Minecraft won’t come out for the mobile versions until a later date.

That being said, the mobile version is a wonderful way to experience Minecraft on the go.

Playing Minecraft alone, however, is no fun. No matter the platform, Minecraft was made for socializing, and its cross-compatibility lets you play with your friends.

Download: Minecraft for iOS | Android ($6.99, in-app purchases available)

6. Hearthstone

Real-life trading card games are fun, but online trading card games let you do things like summon demons and blow up your booster packs.

Hearthstone, developed by Blizzard and set in the world of Warcraft, is a strategy game that lets you collect cards, build decks, and duel your friends. It’s free to play, but you can buy new card parks to give yourself that extra edge.

With periodic expansions, tournaments, and challenges, there’s always a reason to get back into Hearthstone. Play your friends in the Arena or battle strangers to increase your Rank.

And if you’re struggling to win, check out our complete guide to Hearthstone.

Download: Hearthstone for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

7. Pokémon Go

When it debuted, Pokémon Go smashed the glass ceiling for AR (Augmented Reality) gaming, bringing pocket monsters into the real world. You and your friends can take your phones, whether Android or iOS, and go out into the real world and explore.

Download: Pokémon Go for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

8. Fortnite

The world’s most popular battle royale game is available on pretty much any platform you can think of, including iOS and Android. While playing on your smartphone might not sound great, Fortnite is well worth playing on mobile.

First of all, unlike PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch, whose online platforms require a subscription, playing Fortnite on your phone is free.

Secondly, the mobile version has some features that make moving around a little easier. You can automatically pick up whatever you walk over and open doors that are in front of you.

And finally, now that you can play anywhere, you can dab on the bus.

Download: Fortnite for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

9. Super Stickman Golf 3

Get in a quick nine holes before lunch with this simple-but-fun golfing game.

While Single Player mode is fun on its own, Stickman Golf offers two different multiplayer modes. You can either compete to see how fast you can play each hole in Race Mode, or take turns in the Turn-Based mode. Also, you can play locally or online.

Download: Super Stickman Golf 3 for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

10. Old School RuneScape

Ready to scratch the nostalgia bug with friends? As one of the earliest accessible MMORPGs, many gamers will fondly remember RuneScape. Whether you’re ready to fish, mine, or fight, you can resume your adventures in true crossplay form with all of your friends.

Download: Old School RuneScape for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

More Mobile Games to Play With Friends

So there we have it, a selection of the best cross-platform multiplayer games to play on mobile. And for those times when you don’t have internet connectivity, keep this list of the best local multiplayer mobile games handy. We can’t guarantee you’ll be any good at these games, but we can guarantee you’ll have fun playing them.

Read the full article: 10 Cross-Platform Mobile Multiplayer Games to Play With Friends

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How to Upload and Delete Phone Contacts on Facebook

Facebook is frighteningly good at predicting who you know in real life and recommending those people to you as suggested friends. However, it can’t suggest everyone you’ve ever met, so some people will naturally slip through the cracks.

To find out who else you might know on the social network, you should use your phone contacts.

In this article, we’ll explain how to find phone contacts on Facebook, how to upload contacts on Facebook, and then how to remove them again when you’re finished. Keep reading to find out more…

How to Upload Phone Contacts to Facebook

The process of uploading contacts on Facebook is the same on both Android and iOS. Just follow the instructions below.

1. Tap on the Menu icon (three horizontal lines).
2. Scroll down to Settings and Privacy > Settings.
3. Tap on Media and Contacts.
4. Locate the setting labeled Continuous Contacts Upload.
5. Slide the toggle into the On position.

All your phone contacts will start automatically uploading. Friend recommendations based on your phone contacts will start appearing in the Find Friends section of the app (Menu > Find Friends).

How to Delete Phone Contacts From Facebook

If you change your mind, you can reverse the process. First, you need to make sure Continuous Contact Uploading is turned off. You need to do this on every device on which you’ve turned it on. To turn it off, repeat the steps listed above.

To delete your existing uploaded contacts, you need to use a web browser to navigate to the Manage invites and imported contacts page. At the bottom of the screen, click on Remove all contacts.

Remember, managing phone contacts on Facebook (as detailed in this article) is a different process to the one required if you’ve uploaded your contacts via Facebook Messenger. In that case, you need to head to the dedicated Manage your uploaded contacts page for Messenger and click on Delete All Contacts.

Don’t Forget Facebook’s Privacy Checkup Tool

Finally, it’s important to note that uploading contacts to Facebook will share those details with the social network. And some people may feel uncomfortable about that. If you’d like to learn more about privacy on Facebook, check out our article detailing the Facebook privacy checkup tool.

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The 14 Best Netflix Alternatives, Free and Paid

Netflix is one of the biggest streaming platforms, but it’s certainly not the only one. There are lots of Netflix alternatives out there, both free and paid, and some are arguably even better than Netflix.

In this article, we take at look at some of the best Netflix alternatives available today. These are companies similar to Netflix but which offer streaming services with different features and/or content.

1. Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video is the largest competitor to Netflix and it’s well worth your time. The original movies and TV shows that Amazon produce (like Jack Ryan and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) are worth the price of admission alone. You can either subscribe to Prime Video on its own, or pay an additional $4/month to get all of the benefits of Amazon Prime.

• A wide variety of critically acclaimed original content you can’t find elsewhere
• You can easily rent or buy other content that isn’t included in the subscription
• Prime Video is included as part of a full Amazon Prime subscription

Watch: Amazon Prime Video – $8.99/month

2. Disney+

Disney+ had a lot of hype surrounding its launch as it was the House of Mouse’s big serve against Netflix.

Since the company seemingly owns everything, it’s packed with works from the likes of Marvel, Pixar, and National Geographic. Of course, it also boasts all of the classic and latest Disney films, along with original content like The Mandalorian (the Star Wars TV spin-off).

If you’re on the fence over whether to subscribe, we have already asked, Is Disney+ worth getting?

• Perfect for kids, thanks to the deep Disney archives of classic animations
• A limited amount of content from 20th Century Fox due to its mature slant
• Slowly producing its own exclusive content, though this is a bit limited at launch

Watch: Disney+ – $6.99/month

3. Apple TV+

Apple was comparatively late to the streaming game, but it hit the ground running with shows starring actors such as Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, and Jason Momoa.

However, Apple TV+ doesn’t have licensed content, so the breadth is extremely limited compared to Netflix. Nevertheless, it does have decent shows like Mythic Quest and Dickinson, with more on the way.

• Some good original content from top-tier talent
• There isn’t much to watch due to the lack of licensed content
• You can get a free year’s subscription when buying a new Apple product

Watch: Apple TV+ – $4.99/month

4. Hulu

While Hulu does have movies, its primary focus is on TV shows, both licensed and original. Its licensed catalog is huge, spanning many broadcast networks and with something to suit every age, ensuring you will have enough shows to binge to last you a lifetime.

The biggest problem is that the cheaper price plan has ads. You can pay double the cost to remove them, but some shows will still have ads due to licensing issues.

• Great for its huge back catalog of old and modern TV shows
• Offers a cheap entry point for basic membership
• Commercials on TV and movies; even on the higher price tier

Watch: Hulu – $5.99/month

5. HBO Now

As you might expect given its name, HBO Now is all about the amazing material that HBO produces. This includes shows like Westworld, Game of Thrones, and Succession. The network is known for its high-quality creations, though whether it deserves the expensive price tag is up to you. HBO Now also offers a decent selection of blockbuster movies.

• The greatest selection of HBO’s original shows through the years
• Expensive compared to its competitors
• Lacks features available elsewhere, like 4K or offline viewing

Watch: HBO Now – $14.99/month

6. Acorn TV

Most streaming services focus on American content, so it’s great to have Acorn TV which offers shows from places like Australia, the UK, and France. While there obviously won’t be anything new for those native to those countries, if you haven’t seen shows like Midsomer Murders and Inspector George Gently then you’re in for a treat.

Acorn TV is similar to another streaming service called BritBox. Check out our comparison of BritBox versus Acorn TV for more information.

• A great range of content from countries outside of America
• Reasonable price and cheaper if you sign up for a year
• You can’t download videos for offline viewing

Watch: Acorn TV – $5.99/month

7. CBS All Access

If you’re in the US, CBS All Access is the only way to watch great shows like Star Trek: Picard and The Twilight Zone on streaming.

Like HBO Now, this service is really only suitable if you’re a fan of what the network produces, but there’s a large selection of past and present shows to keep you busy. Disappointingly, there aren’t that many original series compared to its competitors.

• CBS has produced some great shows which are available here
• Only the higher price plan of $9.99/month is free of commercials
• There’s no support for offline viewing or 4K content

Watch: CBS All Access – $5.99/month

8. MUBI

MUBI is the perfect service for those who enjoy their films a little less mainstream, showcasing works from film festivals and highlighting independent creators. It only has 30 films on offer—every day it removes one and adds another—but it’s unlikely you will have seen many of them unless you’re the ultimate film buff.

• A rotating selection of movies from around the globe
• There are only ever 30 movies available to watch
• MUBI is expensive considering the limited amount of content

Watch: MUBI – $10.99/month

9. Hotstar

Hotstar is unique because it’s all about Indian movies and TV shows that you won’t find anywhere else. There are over 2,000 Indian movies to watch, alongside the TV and sports content, and it can be watched directly on your TV or on the mobile app. Disappointingly, you can’t sign up for a monthly membership, only annual.

• Lots of great Indian content that other services don’t offer
• A wide range of device support, from TVs to mobile
• It’s only available with an annual membership

Watch: Hotstar – $49.99/year

10. Tubi

Tubi has thousands of movies and TV shows available for free, all supported by adverts. While obviously a lot of the content is older or lesser known stuff, there’s so much of it that you are bound to find something you like. It’s all sorted into categories, including a dedicated kids section to keep your little ones entertained.

• A huge amount of movies and TV shows from studios like Lionsgate and Paramount
• Available on all popular devices like streaming sticks and games consoles
• Collections like “Highly Rated” and “Award Winners” help you find the good stuff

Watch: Tubi – Free

11. Vudu

Vudu has been around since 2004, but owned by Walmart since 2010. While it does have a wide selection of movies available to rent, there’s also a sizeable collection of free movies and TV shows to watch that are supported by ads. It even streams in high definition video and audio, which is a great bonus.

• Offers a decent selection of free ad-supported movies and TV shows
• Streams in high quality
• Boasts a clean and easy-to-navigate interface

Watch: Vudu – Free

12. Plex

Plex is primarily designed as a service to create your own streaming catalog from your own videos. However, it has now expanded into offering free movies supported by ads, from studios like Legendary, MGM, Lionsgate, and more.

If you already have Plex then you will see them appear automatically. If not, the service is just a free sign-up away.

• Integrates into the existing Plex service, giving you access to free movies
• Lots of niche and older movies to choose from
• A stylish and quick interface that you can expand using Plex apps

Watch: Plex – Free

13. IMDb TV

IMDb TV is a great way to watch a range of movies and TV shows for free. Since IMDb is owned by Amazon, you can use this service within the Amazon Prime Video app itself. Alternatively, you can watch via your browser.

There’s a good amount of free stuff here to watch, supported by relatively minimal advertising.

• Available on a range of devices thanks to the Amazon integration
• A solid amount of blockbuster movies and TV shows to watch
• Supported by ads, but not that many

Watch: IMDb TV – Free

14. Crackle

Crackle is a free service owned by Sony, which also features movies and TV shows from the likes of MGM, Paramount, and Warner Bros. It splits everything into “channels”, though these aren’t genuine live channels—it’s just Crackle’s way of categorizing content. Crackle is good, but the amount of ads you’ll see on a full-length film is tiresome.

• A good selection of movies and TV shows from many studios
• Supports a wide range of playback devices
• Longer content has a large amount of ads

Watch: Crackle – Free

The Best Live TV Streaming Services

All of these Netflix alternatives offer something a little bit different. But with so many different streaming services available, you may have to rotate between all of them in order to have access to the widest range of content.

While these services offer pre-recorded movies and TV shows, you might also want to watch some live TV. If so, check out our recommendations for the best live TV streaming services for cord-cutters.

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8 Techy Ways to Stay Positive During a Lockdown

It’s often difficult to stay positive when you’re forced to stay inside for weeks on end. If you’re feeling upset or anxious, making a few changes to how you approach technology during physical distancing can help.

Let’s look at some small but practical ways you can use technology in a more positive way during this time.

1. Research and Plan a “Staycation”

If you had to cancel your planned vacation due to financial changes or canceled flights, don’t dwell on that disappointment. Rather, use this time to come up with a plan for a vacation that you don’t have to travel far for—or a “staycation.”

Maybe you can plan a tour of little-known restaurants nearby that you’ve wanted to visit but haven’t had time for. Perhaps you can take a weekend hike to a destination close to you. Or maybe you can do a different family activity in your garden every night for a week.

Having a planned “staycation” will give you something to look forward to during a tough time.

2. Read Positive News Online

In times of crisis, most news doesn’t make you smile. Instead of getting sucked into the negative news on TV or scrolling mindlessly through nasty debates on Facebook, seek out positive news to lift your spirits.

We’ve looked at the best good news websites, which you should check regularly. YouTube is also a great place for positive news content. Notably, as a result of the ongoing pandemic, actor John Krasinski has started a show called Some Good News that highlights good news from around the world. Give it a watch for a much-needed boost in your day.

3. Make Connecting With Friends and Family a Priority

It’s so common to be “too busy” to get together with friends during normal times. Why not take advantage of the extra free time and connect with people who you haven’t seen in a while?

Thanks to free group conference call tools, video calls are effortless no matter what device everyone has. You could reconnect with friends from college, call your extended family who lives across the country or just shoot the breeze with a friend you usually meet for dinner.

You may even want to start a calendar so you can keep track of when you’re meeting everyone. Meeting with others will not only boost your spirits, but will make others feel loved too.

4. Make Essential Purchases Online

If going out for essentials like grocery shopping makes you anxious, consider buying products online instead. While you probably can’t get everything you need online, relying more on online shopping should reduce the number of times you have to go out.

Check out our comparison of personal shopping services to see which ones you should try. You can also use grocery pickup services at stores like Walmart. These let you specify your order online, then have employees at the store get everything for you and load the goods into your car.

5. Devote Some Time to Learning Each Day

If you feel like you’re wasting too much time online, pick one skill or hobby you’d like to learn and spend some time working on it every day. You can find YouTube tutorials, websites, and apps dedicated to almost every practice.

A few examples include:

• Start practicing a new language.
• Pick up an instrument you’ve always wanted to learn.
• Dip your toe into computer programming.
• Work on creative writing.
• Learn basic car maintenance so you can work on your vehicle.

Not sure what you should study? Have a look at websites where you can find cool skills to learn to get started. At the end of self-isolation, you can feel proud that you came out of it with a new skill or developed a new interest.

6. Use Tech Resources for Working Out

It’s easy to slip into inactivity when you’re home all day, but you don’t need to have any special equipment to stay healthy and move your body a bit during this time. We’ve looked at the best bodyweight exercise apps to help you get a few reps in during your day.

You don’t have to look far for more workout inspiration. YouTube is full of videos on how to do certain exercises properly and form a basic workout routine that works for your fitness level. Getting exercise is important to keep your body feeling its best, and will help you stay positive even while isolated at home.

7. Play Online Games With Friends Old and New

Video games and board games alike are both great ways to have some fun with other people online while you’re stuck at home.

If you’re into video games, see if any of your friends are interested in playing a multiplayer title together online. Grouping up is a fun way to pass the time and catch up with a friend (or several).

In case you don’t have anyone you know to play with, look for group (LFG) websites. For example, FTW.in has game-specific pages to help you group up with others in games like Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Overwatch, and many others. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here, Reddit has many subreddits to help you find fellow players in your game of choice.

Even if you don’t like video games, there are lots of other online games you can enjoy. Check out fun two-player games you can play in your browser at no cost. We’ve also looked at websites to play free board games online.

Online games are a great way to have some fun with friends even when you can’t hang out in person. And you never know when you might meet a new remote friend through your favorite game!

8. Start a Gratitude Journal

With everything going on in the world, it’s easy to fall into despair. You can counteract this by focusing on the positive elements in your own life, and journaling is a great way to record those.

Try one of the best digital journal apps to start this habit. It doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary—start by picking one item that you’re thankful for each day and writing a few sentences about it. Not only will this keep you focused during a difficult season, but you can refer to what you wrote in the future.

Keeping a Strong Mindset in Trying Times

These tips will help you use technology and online resources in a positive way, even when the world is scary. Of course, it’s not realistic to stay in high spirits all the time, so don’t feel bad if these don’t work all the time or right away. Use them to keep your mind occupied on positive matters when you need to take your mind off what’s happening around you.

Meanwhile, don’t forget about the power of laughter when you’re feeling down. Some British comedies on Netflix might just be what you need today.

Read the full article: 8 Techy Ways to Stay Positive During a Lockdown

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Spotify launches its promised fundraising feature for artists

Last month, Spotify announced that as part of its coronavirus relief efforts it would soon add new fundraising features for artists on its platform. Today, the company is following through with the launch of “Artist Fundraising Pick,” a feature that allows artists to fundraise for themselves, their crews, or one of the verified music relief initiatives Spotify has already vetted through the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief project.

At launch, Spotify is working with a small group of fundraising partners to make the donation process easier, including Cash App, GoFundMe, and PayPal.me.

Cash App is currently Spotify’s preferred method, as it has also established a $1 million relief effort for artists. When Spotify artists choose their “$cashtag” as their Artist Fundraising Pick and secure at least one donation of any size, they’ll receive an additional $100 in their account from Cash App up until a collective total of $1 million has been contributed. This works for artists in the U.S. and U.K., but Spotify users worldwide can donate through Cash App.

To use the new fundraising tools, artists (or Spotify for Artists admin users) will go to their Artist dashboard and click “Get started” on the banner at the top to submit their Fundraising Pick. This is a similar process as to how artists choose which track they want to display on their profile.

Once live, fans can donate to the cause through the artist’s profile. In addition to Cash App, PayPal is broadly available and GoFundMe is available in 19 markets.

If the artist chooses to raise for a music relief organization, they can select from those associated with Spotify’s existing charity project, which launched last month in partnership with MusiCares, PRS Foundation, and Help Musicians. It has now expanded to include a wider range of participating organizations, including several local options, and is continuing to grow.

At launch, a handful of artists already have the new feature live, including Tyrese Pope and Boy Scouts who are fundraising through Cash App; Marshmello who is fundraising for MusiCares; and Benjamin Ingrosso who is fundraising for Musikerforbundet.

Spotify says it moved to quickly launch this feature because it believed it was in a unique position to help artists raise money from a global network of fans. However, it cautions that it’s never built a fundraising feature like this before, and considers this a “first version.” Over time, the feature will likely evolve and update based on artist feedback.

“This is an incredibly difficult time for many Spotify users and people around the world — and there are many worthy causes to support at this time,” the company wrote in an announcement. “With this feature, we simply hope to enable those who have the interest and means to support artists in this time of great need, and to create another opportunity for our COVID-19 Music Relief partners to find the financial support they need to continue working in music and lift our industry,” it said.

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EU privacy body urges anonymization of location data for COVID-19 tracking

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has published guidance for the use of location data and contacts tracing tools intended to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Europe’s data protection framework wraps around all such digital interventions, meaning there are legal requirements for EU countries and authorities developing tracing tools or soliciting data for a coronavirus related purpose.

“These guidelines clarify the conditions and principles for the proportionate use of location data and contact tracing tools, for two specific purposes: using location data to support the response to the pandemic by modelling the spread of the virus so as to assess the overall effectiveness of confinement measures; [and] contact tracing, which aims to notify individuals of the fact that they have been in close proximity of someone who is eventually confirmed to be a carrier of the virus, in order to break the contamination chains as early as possible,” the EDPB writes in the document.

The European Commission and the EU parliament have already weighed in with their own recommendations in this area, including a toolbox to help guide contacts tracing app developers. The Commission has also urged Member States to take a common approach to building such apps. And has been leaning on local telcos to provide ‘anonymized and aggregated’ metadata for modelling the spread of the virus across the EU.

The guideline document from the EDPB — a body made up of representatives from the EU’s national data protection agencies which helps coordinate the application of pan-EU data protection law — brings additional expert steerage for those developing digital interventions as part of a public health response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The EDPB generally considers that data and technology used to help fight COVID-19 should be used to empower, rather than to control, stigmatise, or repress individuals,” it writes. “Furthermore, while data and technology can be important tools, they have intrinsic limitations and can merely leverage the effectiveness of other public health measures. The general principles of effectiveness, necessity, and proportionality must guide any measure adopted by Member States or EU institutions that involve processing of personal data to fight COVID-19.”

Among the body’s specific recommendations are that where location data is being considered for modelling the spread of the coronavirus or assessing the effectiveness of national lockdown measures then anonymizing the data is preferable — with the EDPB emphasizing that proper anonymization is not easy.

Given the inherent complexity it also recommends transparency around the anonymization methodology used. (tl;dr: there’s no security in obscurity, nor indeed accountability.)

“Many options for effective anonymisation exist, but with a caveat. Data cannot be anonymised on their own, meaning that only datasets as a whole may or may not be made anonymous,” it notes.

“A single data pattern tracing the location of an individual over a significant period of time cannot be fully anonymised. This assessment may still hold true if the precision of the recorded geographical coordinates is not sufficiently lowered, or if details of the track are removed and even if only the location of places where the data subject stays for substantial amounts of time are retained. This also holds for location data that is poorly aggregated.

“To achieve anonymisation, location data must be carefully processed in order to meet the reasonability test. In this sense, such a processing includes considering location datasets as a whole, as well as processing data from a reasonably large set of individuals using available robust anonymisation techniques, provided that they are adequately and effectively implemented.”

On contact tracing apps — aka digital tools that are designed to map proximity between individuals, as a proxy for infection risk — the EDPB urges that use of such apps be voluntary.

“The systematic and large scale monitoring of location and/or contacts between natural persons is a grave intrusion into their privacy,” it warns. “It can only be legitimised by relying on a voluntary adoption by the users for each of the respective purposes. This would imply, in particular, that individuals who decide not to or cannot use such applications should not suffer from any disadvantage at all.”

The importance of accountability is also front and center, with the EDPB saying the controller of such apps must be clearly defined.

“The EDPB considers that the national health authorities could be the controllers for such application; other controllers may also be envisaged. In any cases, if the deployment of contact tracing apps involves different actors their roles and responsibilities must be clearly established from the outset and be explained to the users.”

Purpose limitation is another highlighted component. Apps need to have purposes that are “specific enough to exclude further processing for purposes unrelated to the management of the COVID- 19 health crisis (e.g., commercial or law enforcement purposes)”, it says.

So, in other words, no function creep — and no EU citizen mass surveillance via a pandemic backdoor.

The EDPB also writes that “careful consideration should be given to the principle of data minimisation and data protection by design and by default” — noting specifically that contact tracing apps “do not require tracking the location of individual users”.

Instead “proximity data should be used” for the contacts tracing purpose.

“Contact tracing applications can function without direct identification of individuals,” it further emphasizes, adding that “appropriate measures should be put in place to prevent re-identification”.

The guidance aligns with the coronavirus contacts tracing model devised jointly by Apple and Google — which have said they will be offering a cross-platform API for COVID-19 contacts tracing based on ephemeral proximity IDs shared via Bluetooth.

At one point the EDPB guidance appears to be leaning towards favoring such decentralized approaches to contacts tracing apps, with the body writing that “the collected information should reside on the terminal equipment of the user and only the relevant information should be collected when absolutely necessary”.

Although later on the in guidance it discussed centralized models that involve proximity data being uploaded to a server in the cloud, writing that: “Implementations for contact tracing can follow a centralized or a decentralized approach. Both should be considered viable options, provided that adequate security measures are in place, each being accompanied by a set of advantages and disadvantages.”

In Europe there is currently a big fight between different camps over whether contacts tracing apps should use a centralized or decentralized model for storing and processing proximity data — with a contacts tracing app standardization effort known as PEPP-PT that’s backed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications and some EU governments wanting to support centralized protocols for COVID-19 contacts tracking, while a separate coalition of European academics wants only decentralized approaches on privacy grounds, and has developed a protocol called DP-3T.

Europe’s PEPP-PT COVID-19 contacts tracing standard push could be squaring up for a fight with Apple and Google

“The current health crisis should not be used as an opportunity to establish disproportionate data retention mandates,” the EDPB warns. “Storage limitation should consider the true needs and the medical relevance (this may include epidemiology-motivated considerations like the incubation period, etc.) and personal data should be kept only for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. Afterwards, as a general rule, all personal data should be erased or anonymised.”

The body also recommends algorithms used in contacts tracing apps be audited and regularly reviewed by outside experts.

Again, a key criticism of the PEPP-PT initiative has been around lack of transparency — including its failure to publish code for external review. (Though it has said it will be publishing code.)

“In order to ensure their fairness, accountability and, more broadly, their compliance with the law, algorithms must be auditable and should be regularly reviewed by independent experts. The application’s source code should be made publicly available for the widest possible scrutiny,” the EDPB writes.

Another notable piece of the guidance is for a data protection impact assessment not only to be carried out but that it be published — which marks a further push for accountability via transparency in such an unprecedented moment.

“The EDPB considers that a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) must be carried out before implementing such tool as the processing is considered likely high risk (health data anticipated large-scale adoption, systematic monitoring, use of new technological solution). The EDPB strongly recommends the publication of DPIAs,” it writes.

Typically DPAs leave it up to data controllers to decide whether to publish a DPIA or not — in this case the strong push from the central authority is that these documents are made public where COVID-19 contacts tracing apps are concerned.

Having highlighted the pros and cons of centralized vs decentralized approaches to contacts tracing, the EDPB goes on to recommend that the conceptual phase of app development “should always include thorough consideration of both concepts carefully weighing up the respective effects on data protection/privacy and the possible impacts on individuals rights”.

“Any server involved in the contact tracing system must only collect the contact history or the pseudonymous identifiers of a user diagnosed as infected as the result of a proper assessment made by health authorities and of a voluntary action of the user. Alternately, the server must keep a list of pseudonymous identifiers of infected users or their contact history only for the time to inform potentially infected users of their exposure, and should not try to identify potentially infected users.”

“Putting in place a global contact tracing methodology including both applications and manual tracing may require additional information to be processed in some cases. In this context, this additional information should remain on the user terminal and only be processed when strictly necessary and with his prior and specific consent,” it adds.

You can read the full document here.

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