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Great comment, nice to see some rational/balanced thinking on this. To me it seems overly paranoid to suggest that the UK government would be doing this merely

Great comment, nice to see some rational/balanced thinking on this. To me it seems overly paranoid to suggest that the UK government would be doing this merely so they could track citizens movements or whatever - and I'm pretty sure the intelligence services are capable of doing that already if they want to. There are definite upsides to their approach from a surpressing the infection point of view, obviously they believe they are worth the trade-offs. It will be interesting to see how the trial plays out vs. other countries using the Apple/Google approach. I don't think the government would risk having another potential large failure in handling this crisis if the evidence clearly points to the Apple/Google approach being better. I did see a quote yesterday to the effect that nothing is set in stone and they can change the approach they are using if necessary, can't find the source right now.

DanBC 6y ago
> To me it seems overly paranoid to suggest that the UK government would be doing this merely so they could track citizens movements or whatever I agree, but don't ignore the rest of the argument, which is that the beta versions of the app failed the requirements to be included in the NHS App library; they're using weird version control so NHSX can't do correct tests on the app; it's already failed some security testing; and the contract was awarded to someone on Sage, who has a brother that works for Cummings.
- Mvandenbergh 6y ago
  The HSJ article really looks like it is both written by and sourced from people who are not too close to either this process no to software development. I would expect at least some beta versions not to pass all tests, it is not even clear whether they have submitted it for formal testing yet. They're not using "weird version control", they're using continuous release during development which is totally standard. They'll have to switch to version numbers and formal change control once they enter the NHS Digital approval process but I don't think they have yet. NHSX is delivering the app. Faculty (which is run by Marc Warner) has other government contracts but I don't think building mobile apps is really what they do.

DanBC 6y ago

> To me it seems overly paranoid to suggest that the UK government would be doing this merely so they could track citizens movements or whatever I agree, but don't ignore the rest of the argument, which is that the beta versions of the app failed the requirements to be included in the NHS App library; they're using weird version control so NHSX can't do correct tests on the app; it's already failed some security testing; and the contract was awarded to someone on Sage, who has a brother that works for Cummings.

Mvandenbergh 6y ago
The HSJ article really looks like it is both written by and sourced from people who are not too close to either this process no to software development. I would expect at least some beta versions not to pass all tests, it is not even clear whether they have submitted it for formal testing yet. They're not using "weird version control", they're using continuous release during development which is totally standard. They'll have to switch to version numbers and formal change control once they enter the NHS Digital approval process but I don't think they have yet. NHSX is delivering the app. Faculty (which is run by Marc Warner) has other government contracts but I don't think building mobile apps is really what they do.