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This is a win for privacy - the previous model used a centralised "anonymous" database, with the idea being that the data could then be mined for various purpos
by mattlondon 6y ago
This is a win for privacy - the previous model used a centralised "anonymous" database, with the idea being that the data could then be mined for various purposes officially relating to spotting outbreaks and the like. Obviously, this sounds very big-brothery since it would have been a database of who was where with who and when etc.
Not sure if this sudden outbreak of common sense was due to either:
a) technical difficulties of doing something hacky with iOS to try and make the background bluetooth approach work or implementing the backend,
b) something else usurping the need for the data mining (e.g. perhaps the much-trumpeted track-and-trace system where people self-report/voluntarily tell the government who they spend time with)
c) actually caring about people's privacy.
Probably a combination of a + b I expect. c feels like a longshot.
- toyg 6y agod) allowing them to leverage existing opensource code from the European efforts, without actually having to admit the dependency e) speeding up development, because of a) and d), which also means making it cheaper and less reliant on a single supplier f) the new guy in charge has some Apple contacts he might be able to leverage to, again, speed up things.
- tomatocracy 6y agoYou could also add the potential that the pilot on the Isle of Wight led them to believe that app-based contact tracing is not really very helpful anyway.