Luiz Salazar, left, and John Clabby, right.

Technology giants Apple and Google want to deploy contact-tracing technology to alert mobile users who have made contact with people who've tested positive for the coronavirus.

But one South Florida lawyer says this development could be the start of a "troublesome" trend.

As the country is in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the benefits of using such software outweighs the privacy concerns, said Luis Salazar, founding attorney of Salazar Law. But there is a risk that the technology developed by the multinational companies could be expanded to other uses, including by organizations seeking to ensure the safety of their employees.

The software would rely upon contact-tracing tools that use existing Bluetooth technology. It will alert a user if he or she comes within a certain distance of another person who has tested positive for the coronavirus. For the tool to work, infected users must disclose their health status. Then, two weeks' worth of the person's contacts with other users would be uploaded to a serve, according to Apple and Google materials. The tool does not transmit the identity of the person who tested positive, so neither users, nor Apple or Google would know.

But attorneys say there could be flaws in the software, such as false positives that can result from inaccurate contact data. For example, a user could be in their own vehicle at a drive-in movie theater, and a second user who tested positive for COVID-19 could be parked next to the first user. But, if neither one of them exited their vehicles or opened a window, then the contact information would be faulty.

"There are not just false positives, but could it be maliciously used or could there be straight out false reporting of some kind to trigger this in the ways of terror concerns?" Salazar said. "The system seems to mitigate it. The way it is designed, it doesn't seem to be actionable because the recipient of the notice is anonymous."

Notifying other people using contact tracing technology is not new, says John E. Clabby, a shareholder in Carlton Fields's Tampa office. He suggested that this is just a more sophisticated use of contact tracing. When Clabby thinks about contact tracing, the United States privacy laws about geolocation data come to mind.

"But there are ways to design to apps that geolocation data is collected and not retained," Clabby said. "And that may be a path to get these contact tracing programs up and running in the United States and Europe."

Whether COVID-19 will change the way in which the U.S. and Europe view privacy concerns remains to be seen. Clabby says the key to the technology is to have it be voluntary, such as how Apple and Google are setting up their software.

Clabby also observed that to be successful, the technology needs to be decentralized. If it is involuntary and centralized, software developers will likely have a harder time convincing American businesses to embrace the technology, he said. Instead, organizations that seek to adopt the technology may have to include a consent feature to avoid litigation.

"A company with large warehouses could adopt it for its employees, and it could get consent from those employees or operate in a state where it's not required," Clabby said. "That would help a company monitor the spread of COVID-19 and potentially help keep manufacturing plants open. Keep essential services open, and otherwise provide primary services."