Fearing coronavirus, a Michigan college is tracking its students with a flawed app – Tech Crunch
And students have no way to opt out
Schools and universities across the United States are split on whether to open for the fall semester, thanks to the ongoing pandemic.
Albion College, a small liberal arts school in Michigan, said in June it would allow its nearly 1,500 students to return to campus for the new academic year starting in August. Lectures would be limited in size and the semester would finish by Thanksgiving rather than December. The school said it would test both staff and students upon their arrival to campus and throughout the academic year.
But less than two weeks before students began arriving on campus, the school announced it would require them to download and install a contact-tracing app called Aura, which it says will help it tackle any coronavirus outbreak on campus.
There’s a catch. The app is designed to track students’ real-time locations around the clock, and there is no way to opt out.
The Aura app lets the school know when a student tests positive for COVID-19. It also comes with a contact-tracing feature that alerts students when they have come into close proximity with a person who tested positive for the virus.