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Of all the western world, the population of the UK seems to me the least concerned about privacy. We have a strangely inconsistent pattern on this issue. Up to

Of all the western world, the population of the UK seems to me the least concerned about privacy. We have a strangely inconsistent pattern on this issue. Up to a point, people here seem willing to trust the government and the police and security services, and therefore to tolerate more intrusion than in many places. On the other hand, if you go too far, you get a situation like No2ID, and any hope the government has of introducing anything even vaguely resembling a sufficiently controversial measure dies for a generation (or probably more, since our younger generations are, as in most places, much more tech savvy and aware of these issues). Given that people here are already somewhat sceptical of the government's handling of the coronavirus situation in general and of the lockdown measures specifically, but for now people are mostly following the guidance anyway, rocking that boat is probably not a wise move politically.

enitihas 7y ago
Not British, but from what I read, don't the British people trust the NHS even more than government and police, and so any pushback against an NHS recommended app or approach might be minor.
- cameronbrown 7y ago
  I'm inclined to agree.. NHS generally are excellent stewards of data.
- JoshTriplett 7y ago
  Right up until the NHS-collected data is abused by another government agency for some purpose other than health.
- Silhouette 7y ago
  The NHS is generally very well-respected, but it's important to remember that "the NHS" is really a large collection of distinct organisations and a huge number of people working within them, and to some extent the shared culture within that community. The professional ethics of those working in the NHS are generally respected, but that mostly refers to clinical staff and to some extent support staff. The management and bean-counters are not necessarily accorded the same trust and respect, nor should they be on the basis of past performance. The NHS has done some shady things with sensitive personal data on their watch, and we absolutely should be cautious of any cavalier attitude towards privacy if the NHS leadership and their political masters try to push out this sort of contact tracing app. FWIW, I wouldn't install such an app if I didn't consider it to have sufficient safeguards, but then I'm a strong advocate of privacy and civil liberties who is also willing to give up various other "normal" parts of life to avoid compromising those principles in ways that make me uncomfortable. What should concern the powers that be in this case isn't me, but rather the number of my friends and family who typically do tolerate more intrusion into their privacy (for example, being willing to share a lot of personal information on major social networks) but have expressed concern about this app.

enitihas 7y ago

Not British, but from what I read, don't the British people trust the NHS even more than government and police, and so any pushback against an NHS recommended app or approach might be minor.

cameronbrown 7y ago
I'm inclined to agree.. NHS generally are excellent stewards of data.
JoshTriplett 7y ago
Right up until the NHS-collected data is abused by another government agency for some purpose other than health.
Silhouette 7y ago
The NHS is generally very well-respected, but it's important to remember that "the NHS" is really a large collection of distinct organisations and a huge number of people working within them, and to some extent the shared culture within that community. The professional ethics of those working in the NHS are generally respected, but that mostly refers to clinical staff and to some extent support staff. The management and bean-counters are not necessarily accorded the same trust and respect, nor should they be on the basis of past performance. The NHS has done some shady things with sensitive personal data on their watch, and we absolutely should be cautious of any cavalier attitude towards privacy if the NHS leadership and their political masters try to push out this sort of contact tracing app. FWIW, I wouldn't install such an app if I didn't consider it to have sufficient safeguards, but then I'm a strong advocate of privacy and civil liberties who is also willing to give up various other "normal" parts of life to avoid compromising those principles in ways that make me uncomfortable. What should concern the powers that be in this case isn't me, but rather the number of my friends and family who typically do tolerate more intrusion into their privacy (for example, being willing to share a lot of personal information on major social networks) but have expressed concern about this app.