Coalition is a proximity based contact tracing platform leveraging Bluetooth to fight COVID-19.
Coalition benefits from decade-long R&D in the space of decentralized wireless networks, mobile mesh and secure identity management systems from the Nodle team. The technology was developed by the team at Nodle — the world’s largest ecosystem of connected devices, providing low cost, secure wireless infrastructure, data insights for enterprises, manufacturers and smart cities.
The Nodle founding team previously created FireChat, a peer-to-peer Bluetooth-based messaging technology that has been used to stay connected and communicate while in planes, on cruise ships, at large festivals, during internet shut down and in cases of disaster-recovery situations.
We believe that the whole of humanity is concerned by what is happening. In these times of uncertainties and of emergencies we have to act fast. It is an opportunity to use our software and expertise for good to save millions of lives.
Given that the vast majority of smartphones are Bluetooth-enabled, each time a phone passes by another phone or other Bluetooth-enabled device, it picks up anonymous device information.
If a Coalition app user declares that they have tested positive for COVID-19, their phone then can anonymously and almost instantaneously inform all other phones that have been in its proximity over an extended period of time during the prior 2 weeks. The amount of exposure period and the length of time we trace back to can be set by epidemiologists.
Users who are notified can then immediately take necessary self-isolation measures or get tested if available. The identities of both the COVID-19 positive patient and of the people receiving the notifications are anonymized and securely encrypted.
How does
Coalition protect
your privacy?
One of the key roadblocks to wide scale adoption of “Contact tracing” apps is privacy protection.
Tracing apps to-date have unnecessarily compromised privacy; users give away identities, location and even “under-the-skin” biometric data. We believe we can achieve benefits on contact tracing whilst being privacy conscious.
So, how is privacy protected?
Let us first clarify when privacy is breached. It’s when:
Users don’t have the option to opt-in into the networks;
Users have to upload their location data to the cloud which can be traced and monitored by a central entity;
Data is attached to identities, or;
Not GDPR or CCPA compliant.
To address the above-mentioned concerns that hinder the adoption, Coalition enables the following:
Users’ location data is never sent to the cloud on Coalition. By contrast, it is a prerequisite for all other platforms;
Bluetooth proximity data is encrypted and stays on your device;
The users are sole owners of the data—prior contacts are notified anonymously and securely when they fall sick to COVID-19, and;
All data is anonymized and encrypted
You can see more about how we are GDPR and CCPA Compliant below.