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The day the Stayaway Covid application is finally presented, the D3 Association – Defense of Digital Rights once again criticizes the application government monitoring system for Covid-19. In a lengthy statement sent by email to the newsrooms, Ricardo Lafuente, vice president of D3, states that “The severity of the pandemic means we are not playing apps.”
What about the Portuguese Covid tracking app? 11 doubts, risks and concerns
Among the criticisms mentioned are the “potential problems of a hasty technological solution, with possible negative effects that require greater wisdom when announcing definitive solutions.” For Lafuente, “there are still gaps and uncertainties regarding its operation and the risks it entails,” and, in his opinion, enough time has passed to understand how things were abroad through the creation and use of applications. contact tracking (ARC). “One can only conclude that there is a semblance of success.”
“D3 maintains that, in the absence of evidence of effectiveness, it is irresponsible to describe the use of the application as ‘fundamental’, especially when its installation must be a voluntary and individual decision, ideally weighed with the use of reliable data, and not catastrophic appeals ”, he still says.
One of the main criticisms is mainly based on the fact that some of the Stayaway source code remains unpublished. “The server code, curiously, is not well published”, continues D3, who ponders two possible conclusions: “Or this outdated repository corresponds to the code that is being used (with months of delay and security flaws that have since been corrected ) at the origin); or else the actual code remains hidden, so the announcement that the application’s source code is public does not correspond to the truth ”.
The statement also mentions that the current situation “It sets an important precedent by giving major technology companies a central role in defining public health protocols”as Stayaway uses components of mobile phone operating systems developed and controlled by Apple and Google.
The application was officially launched on Tuesday, at a ceremony in Porto, where Prime Minister António Costa, Health Minister Marta Temido, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor and the president of INESC were present. TEC (Institute of Engineering, Technology and Science of Systems and Informatics).
INESC TEC developed Stayaway in collaboration with the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS) and with the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), Keyruptive and Ubirider. According to this research center, the Government has followed this project through the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Economy and Digital Transition and Health.
