In this episode, Vishal Sikka considers the future of IT, programming, and tech work more generally, during the next 12–18 months, while the coronavirus is still with us, as well as what changes will stay with us long after it’s gone.

At least one state is trying to do widespread Covid-19 testing, including random testing. The next step after testing would logically be contact tracing. But methods like South Korea’s, which involve tracking cellphone activity, run afoul of U.S. privacy laws and mores. Now, though, Ron Rivest and a team at MIT that includes Danny Weitzner (Toronto, Apr 2008) have a scheme that first associates each phone with an anonymous ID and then uses the Bluetooth on people’s phones to learn who has been in contact with whom. The system has been prototyped by longtime TTI/V member MIT Lincoln Lab, but widespread deployment would, the team thinks, require the active cooperation of Apple and Google to achieve a critical mass that they peg at 60% of all phones.
www.fastcompany.com/90488140/mit-has-an-ambitious-plan-to-detect-if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus

Have you heard that 5G was causing the coronavirus epidemic? Apparently conspiracy theorists-turned-arsonists in the U.K. are taking it seriously enough to have started burning down cell towers. (David Robert Grimes, Boston, Apr 2017)
www.theverge.com/2020/4/6/21209363/uk-5g-towers-burning-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-arson-attacks-carrier-response

By now you’ve probably read enough about the coronavirus this week, so we’ll just mention a few measures we’ve taken: The Ubiquitous AI conference, originally scheduled for June, is moving to late July; we’re hopeful we can still arrange our field trip to Harlem to see the Columbia–Rutgers–NYU advanced-wireless testbed. Further details will come soon. As well, TTIV’s parent company has closed its New York office and the team is working remotely. We’re also exploring enhancements and alternatives to our meetings should the coronavirus still be limiting travel this summer, and more generally to serve our members better even if it isn’t. We’d love any suggestions that you have for how we can best add value to your workday. Please share!
 
Non-Covid-19-related statistic of the week: 

• “A recent study indicated that the average temperature differential between formerly redlined and nonredlined neighborhoods in the same city is about 10F; only in nonredlined regions did cities invest in green infrastructure, whether parks, lawns, or tree-lined streets.” 

If law enforcement wants data that’s on your laptop, it needs a search warrant to get it. But what if that data is mirrored in the cloud (Dropbox, Box, iCloud, Evernote, et al.)? A Drug Enforcement Administration search warrant issued to Evernote (Phil Libin, San Francisco, Feb 2010) last year yielded information that led to the conviction of a dealer of fake Xanax (Mike O’Neill, San Francisco, Feb 2017). Oh, and even if you delete the data on your computer, it might still exist in the cloud, especially if the authorities issue a “preservation request” that the cloud provider retain your data indefinitely.
www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5yyxp/evernote-search-warrant-gave-data-to-us-government