4 ms·

Interesting. I am curious to see how well it works. The UK (which is developing two apps in parallel, one based on the Google/Apple API and one based on a propr

Interesting. I am curious to see how well it works. The UK (which is developing two apps in parallel, one based on the Google/Apple API and one based on a proprietary protocol similar to PEPP-PT) has found in a large scale trial that though the technology worked relatively well, people did not respond well to being told to isolate by an app. It would be ironic if after weeks of passionate arguments on HN and other places about the technology and about finding the right balance between efficacy and privacy, the whole thing fails because people don't like the principle.

mcintyre1994 6y ago
Where are you getting information about the UK trial? I don't think I've heard the finding you said from ministers, they just seem to say it's all great and refuse to engage on it. I don't think they've even admitted developing the second app actually.
- Mvandenbergh 6y ago
  The second app we know because there was a work-order modification posted publicly a while ago instructing their app developers to develop a second app as well. You're right that ministers have never formally acknowledged that they are doing it. I do not understand this but then I am from the: people will accept 100x as much incompetence as deceit school of communication and they are not. The other information comes from Lord Bethel's house of lords testimony and also from this blog: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/nhs-covid-19-app-security-two-weeks-on https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/nhs-covid-19-app-security-... and things linked to from it.
tomatocracy 6y ago
I hadn't seen this re the Isle of Wight but it doesn't surprise me. I would guess it's probably in part because most people were expecting the result of an "exposure notification" to be advice to (and information on how to) get a test. Instead the policy seems to be a blanket "isolate for 14 days even if you subsequently get a negative test result" which I suspect will go down very poorly, especially when it won't tell you who you were potentially exposed to.
esotericn 6y ago
> though the technology worked relatively well, people did not respond well to being told to isolate by an app. I would have thought that this depends a lot on the nature of said "message". It needs to be a personal decision based on evidence you make available to the individual. For example - if you were to send a message like - here is a photo of you on a bus, this person sitting next to you has tested positive, you sat next to them for 25 minutes - then sure, people will likely take action based on that. The Government sending a message saying "you need to stay indoors for 2 weeks now because computer said so" is just not compatible with most people's world view, of course that's going to be completely ignored, it's arbitrary house arrest. It also doesn't help that the UK Government are acting like circus clowns, people are going to say things like "Boris told me to stay indoors, but I needed to test my eyesight[1]". [1] https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/25/people-warned-not-test-eyesight-driving-dominic-cummings-statement-12756170/ https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/25/people-warned-not-test-eyesig...
lucasverra 6y ago
Well, user testing exists for this reasons

mcintyre1994 6y ago

Where are you getting information about the UK trial? I don't think I've heard the finding you said from ministers, they just seem to say it's all great and refuse to engage on it. I don't think they've even admitted developing the second app actually.

Mvandenbergh 6y ago
The second app we know because there was a work-order modification posted publicly a while ago instructing their app developers to develop a second app as well. You're right that ministers have never formally acknowledged that they are doing it. I do not understand this but then I am from the: people will accept 100x as much incompetence as deceit school of communication and they are not. The other information comes from Lord Bethel's house of lords testimony and also from this blog: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/nhs-covid-19-app-security-two-weeks-on https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/nhs-covid-19-app-security-... and things linked to from it.

tomatocracy 6y ago

I hadn't seen this re the Isle of Wight but it doesn't surprise me. I would guess it's probably in part because most people were expecting the result of an "exposure notification" to be advice to (and information on how to) get a test. Instead the policy seems to be a blanket "isolate for 14 days even if you subsequently get a negative test result" which I suspect will go down very poorly, especially when it won't tell you who you were potentially exposed to.

esotericn 6y ago

> though the technology worked relatively well, people did not respond well to being told to isolate by an app. I would have thought that this depends a lot on the nature of said "message". It needs to be a personal decision based on evidence you make available to the individual. For example - if you were to send a message like - here is a photo of you on a bus, this person sitting next to you has tested positive, you sat next to them for 25 minutes - then sure, people will likely take action based on that. The Government sending a message saying "you need to stay indoors for 2 weeks now because computer said so" is just not compatible with most people's world view, of course that's going to be completely ignored, it's arbitrary house arrest. It also doesn't help that the UK Government are acting like circus clowns, people are going to say things like "Boris told me to stay indoors, but I needed to test my eyesight[1]". [1] https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/25/people-warned-not-test-eyesight-driving-dominic-cummings-statement-12756170/ https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/25/people-warned-not-test-eyesig...

lucasverra 6y ago

Well, user testing exists for this reasons