The NHS says that despite not following Apple and Google, their contact tracking app will work

The NHS has said that its UK contact tracking app will be functional and practical, even though it has chosen not to follow Apple and Google’s decentralized contact tracking model.

As reported by ZDNet:

With traditional methods of locating public health contacts unable to keep up with the pandemic, the UK government has been working on a tool to digitally track and warn people who have been around someone showing symptoms of the coronavirus .

But health service innovation agency NHSX has now confirmed that it will not follow the approach jointly presented by Apple and Google to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the virus, and will take a different approach.

A spokesperson for NHSX (the digital arm of the NHS) told ZDNet that engineers have used the standard API from Apple and Google and that the app is adhering to low-energy Bluetooth. Where your plan differs is in the use of a centralized database:

The UK government’s local app is also likely to be under public scrutiny as a result of privacy concerns. The new tool follows a centralized model, which means that when a user reports coronavirus symptoms, the warning is sent to a central computer server, which then determines who to send an alert among contacts that the infected person’s phone has registered. .

The Apple and Google solution would never collect geographic data, nor would it present a centralized database of user information. The NHS decision not to go with Apple and Google’s preferred model will mean that your app won’t be able to run in the background, but will have to be opened whenever your phone detects another device running the software, a massive, impractical inconvenience. , and a depletion of battery life.

However, a spokesperson stated:

“Engineers have faced several core challenges for the application to meet public health needs and support detection of contact events well enough, even when the application is in the background, without unduly affecting battery life.”

As noted in the report, there is clear support for both possible approaches, Jim Killock of Open Rights Group told ZDNet that “it obviously seems like a better approach to use the Google and Apple system” and that the NHS should have to give A very clear explanation of why you couldn’t make a more privacy-friendly solution.

On the other hand, Cambridge security engineering professor Ross Anderson said the Apple and Google approach would send a warning to everyone, and that “99% of the time it will be a false positive.” He also noted that the Apple and Google solution “is a great opportunity for abuse.” By using a central database, a questionnaire can ensure that someone reporting symptoms or a possible case can be evaluated to ensure that the information is correct. Anderson also said:

“We need to avoid getting into a fight between different camps, because it is a pure distraction from the real task at hand, which is saving lives,” he said. “A small amount of privacy exposure is totally acceptable in the context of a pandemic.”

Recently, Germany has changed its own centralized contact tracking effort, instead of opting to operate a decentralized model as recommended by Apple. It remains to be seen if the NHS’s own offering will live up to it.