{"id":40676,"date":"2020-04-01T12:25:26","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T12:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/?guid=43aa1780b62e13f06b9f0ec9ee3178d9"},"modified":"2020-04-01T12:25:26","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T12:25:26","slug":"uk-government-to-launch-coronavirus-contact-tracking-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/uk-government-to-launch-coronavirus-contact-tracking-app\/","title":{"rendered":"UK government to launch coronavirus ‘contact tracking’ app"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n Sabina Weston<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
1 Apr, 2020<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The UK government is reportedly preparing to launch an app that will warn users if they are in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for\u00a0coronavirus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The contact-tracking app will\u00a0be released just before the lockdown is lifted\u00a0or in its immediate aftermath, Sky News<\/a><\/em>\u00a0has reported and will use short-range Bluetooth signals to detect other phones in close vicinity and\u00a0then\u00a0store a record of those contacts on the device.<\/p>\n

If somebody tests positive for COVID-19<\/a>, they will be able to upload those contacts, who can then be alerted – via the app.<\/p>\n

This means that the data will not be regularly shared with a central authority,\u00a0potentially easing concerns around privacy violations.<\/p>\n

If people with the app later test positive for coronavirus, they could allow all the folks they’ve been near to be informed, so those people could self-isolate.<\/p>\n

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, told IT Pro<\/em> that the new app, and similar developments, might \u201cprove to be important tools in the fight against COVID-19\u201d. However, he also raised concerns about the privacy of users.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, we are concerned that [the] government needs to put more effort into helping people understand their approach to privacy more generally, and improve their communications vastly. Building a project like this at speed carries privacy, security and delivery risks, so the more information that is given out the better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NHSX, the innovation arm of the UK’s National Health Service,\u00a0will reportedly appoint an ethics board to oversee the development of the app, with its board members set to be\u00a0announced over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is good that they are thinking about the privacy of users \u2013 this is essential to build trust and confidence so people use it,\u201d said Killock.<\/p>\n

Questions might arise over the effectiveness of the app, as large numbers of people will be required to use it in order for it to work efficiently. The NHS is reportedly counting on\u00a0the app being downloaded by more than 50% of the population.<\/p>\n

“NHSX is looking at whether app-based solutions might be helpful in tracking and managing coronavirus, and we have assembled expertise from inside and outside the organization to do this as rapidly as possible,” an NHSX spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Only last week, the NHSX<\/a> and Matt Hancock MP were urged to follow steps<\/a> that would guarantee that new technologies used to tackle the coronavirus outbreak abide by data protection ethics.<\/p>\n

In an open letter signed by numerous \u201cresponsible technologists\u201d, they were asked to take urgent steps to ensure that the public\u2019s trust in the NHS is not undermined by possible data breaches.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sabina Weston<\/p>\n

1 Apr, 2020 <\/p>\n

The UK government is reportedly preparing to launch an app that will warn users if they are in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for\u00a0coronavirus.
\nThe contact-tracking app will\u00a0b…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40676"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40723,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40676\/revisions\/40723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}