I thought the UK tracing app was coming along, but it seems there are some hiccups along the way, fair enough.
But then...
The U.K.’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing App: Everything You Need To Know
Kate O'Flaherty
Kate O'FlahertySenior Contributor
Cybersecurity
I’m a cybersecurity journalist.
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The contact tracing app will track your movements and if someone you’ve come into contact with tests ...
- NurPhoto via Getty Images
It’s official—COVID-19 is going to be part of our lives at least until a vaccine is found. As governments seek to find a way to exit lockdown, the U.K. has settled on a strategy of “test, track and trace.”
At the heart of this is the NHS’ contact tracing app, which is being tested on the Isle of Wight this week. If successful, the app is expected to go live across the U.K. in a few weeks. For the app to work, around 60% of the population—or 80% of smartphone users—will need to install it.
But that’s not its only problem. The contact tracing app failed clinical safety and cybersecurity tests and could be a danger to people’s privacy, according to a report published in the Health Service Journal this week.
Meanwhile, questions remain about the involvement of the shadowy Cambridge Analytica-linked analytics firm Palantir in the NHSX app. At the same time, there are fears that growing levels of surveillance will open the door to a dystopian future that no one imagined would arrive so soon.
“Only time and hindsight will tell which countries’ responses to the pandemic were right, but it is fair to say that the U.K.’s approach to automated contact tracing has flaws, both technical and legal,” says Rowenna Fielding, a privacy expert and head of individual rights and ethics at Protecture.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2020/05/06/the-uks-covid-19-contact-tracing-app-everything-you-need-to-know/#3bf4796dda4d