World

Location Data to Gauge Lockdowns Tests Europe’s Love of Privacy

Telekom Austria providing “anonymized data” to authorities
China, Israel use apps as Google develops location platform

A police car sits at the bottom of the Spanish Steps in Rome on March 11.Photographer: Geraldine Hope Ghelli/Bloomberg

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By Jonathan Tirone, Thomas Seal, and Natalia Drozdiak

March 18, 2020 at 12:23 PM UTC

Updated on

March 18, 2020 at 2:29 PM UTC

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Officials in Austria and Italy are starting to use location data transmitted by mobile phones to determine the effectiveness of their coronavirus lockdowns.