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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2020 (Revised July 2020)

  TraceTogether

  Mitchell B. Weiss and Sarah Mehta

  By April 7, 2020, over 1.4 million people worldwide had contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Governments raced to curb the spread of COVID-19 by scaling up testing, quarantining those infected, and tracing their possible contacts. It had taken Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) and Ministry of Health (MOH) all of eight weeks to develop the world’s first nationwide deployment of a Bluetooth-based contact tracing system, TraceTogether, and deploy it in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19. From late January to mid-March 2020, GovTech’s Jason Bay and his team raced to create a technology that would supplement the work of Singapore’s human contact tracers. Days after its launch, Singapore’s foreign minister announced plans to open source the technology. Now, in early April, TraceTogether was a beta for the world. Whether the system would really help in Singapore, and whether other countries should adopt it was still a wide-open question

  Keywords: Government Administration; Crisis Management; Health; Health Pandemics; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Social Issues; Technology; Mobile Technology; Software; Technology Adoption; Health Industry; Public Administration Industry; Singapore;

  Citation:

  Weiss, Mitchell B., and Sarah Mehta. "TraceTogether." Harvard Business School Case 820-111, June 2020. (Revised July 2020.)  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2019 (Revised February 2020)

  Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

  Leslie John and Mitch Weiss

  Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.
  
  The case serves as a microcosm of issues of digital privacy: the availability of data – personal data in particular – has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives and commercial endeavors alike, but it also introduces a host of privacy perils. How can the benefits of this availability of personal data be realized while mitigating the pitfalls? Concern over firms’ use and misuse of consumers’ data has been increasing, fueling a debate surrounding the regulation of online privacy. In this case, students debate this question, and devise a framework of different approaches to resolving these issues.
  The case provides a ripe area of inquiry for privacy issues: so-called “platform” companies, and especially platforms that run adjacent to, or even in public space. Cities are among the most ancient type of “platform,” providing a foundation for users of all types (individuals, organizations, companies) to interact, exchange, and innovate. Where platforms rely on users to generate and share data, privacy issues abound; Sidewalk Toronto is no exception.

  Keywords: privacy; privacy by design; Privacy Regulation; platforms; data; data security; behavioral science; Data and Data Sets; Safety; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Behavior;

  Citation:

  John, Leslie, and Mitch Weiss. "Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-023, August 2019. (Revised February 2020.) (Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.)  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2019 (Revised December 2019)

  ofo

  Mitch Weiss and Mariana Oseguera Rodriguez

  Teaching Note for HBS No. 819-063.

  Citation:

  Weiss, Mitch, and Mariana Oseguera Rodriguez. "ofo." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-157, June 2019. (Revised December 2019.)  View Details

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