I think this is the guy spreading FUD about this last week. He’s back spreading the FUD again this week. In his analysis he keeps ignoring that the flow of dat

I think this is the guy spreading FUD about this last week. He’s back spreading the FUD again this week. In his analysis he keeps ignoring that the flow of data is user-controlled. You need to opt-in to start this this, not just take an OS update. You also need to install an app and opt-in to allow it to use the data. Looking at the docs, the user also needs to approve at the point where an app receives the day and duration of contacts with an infected person. The only thing an app that you’ve already downloaded and opted-in to can do without further permission if report some contact with an infected person: not who or even which daily tracking ids, not when within the last 14 days. That won’t make a tool of mass surveillance. In places he acknowledges some of this, but his analysis proceeds as if the user-controlled nature of this doesn’t exist. This is deeply despicable. To the extent this guy and people like him can sow distrust of this platform, the weaker privacy-preserving covid19 contact tracing will be. That leads to more death and deeper economic ruin. There are various other problems with the analysis here: For example (just a selection) (1) this platform doesn’t require any more trust from Google and Apple than before. They’ve always been capable of turning your phone into a tool of mass surveillance, one much more effective than what this platform allows. (2) This system cant’t be turned into a tool of mass surveillance with the flip of a virtual switch at Apple or Google HQ. The software to expose the data won’t exist and so would have to be developed, tested and released. This guy is using a Hollywood movie level understanding of of software systems here. By the way, this guy is a professor with a specialty in privacy, so we know he knows better. That means all of this is malicious. I don’t know what he has to gain from pushing this FUD, but I do know he doesn’t mind getting a bunch of people killed or putting them through economic hardship. He should be using his expertise to do an honest and competent analysis of this system so that it could be improved.