[ad_1]
- subtitle
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai (left) and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
- source
- Getty / Business Insider Compound
- The UK has a fight on its hands to launch its official coronavirus tracking app in the coming weeks, thanks to limits set by Apple and Google on how those apps work.
- The government has already announced the app and it is believed to be in advanced stages of development.
- But a new system announced by Apple and Google means the app may not be able to track people’s phones as closely as UK officials would like.
- The NHS is in talks with the two tech giants about its application, the sources said, which is expected to launch in the coming weeks.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
The UK has a fight on its hands to launch its contact tracking app, which will monitor people diagnosed or reporting symptoms of COVID-19 and alert people they have been in contact with.
The experimental digital arm of the NHS, NHSX, has been developing a tracking app for a few weeks, but was surprised by a joint announcement by Apple and Google last week about a contact tracking system that sets limits on how invasive those can be. Applications. iPhones or Android devices.
Now there is a conflict between the political victory of getting the app out on time and ensuring that it works properly.
Apple and Google aren’t building an app, but they launched a set of privacy-focused APIs in May that governments and public health agencies like the NHS can base their own contact tracking apps on.
A key advantage of the system is that approved contact tracking applications will be able to run in the background. Contact tracking apps are mainly based on Bluetooth scanning, which is normally not allowed to run in the background on iOS. For example, Singapore’s Bluetooth-based TraceTogether app reportedly requires the user to leave their phone unlocked for it to work properly – a privacy risk and a battery drain. Adoption of the Apple and Google system means that approved apps would work properly even when a phone is locked, making it more likely that people will actually download them.
But to access this better functionality, governments and public health authorities must ensure that their applications comply with the privacy standards of technology giants. The idea here is to ensure that governments do not eject highly invasive apps that track people’s movements through location data, or build centralized databases of people’s medical information.
According to people familiar with the matter, the NHSX app may not comply with Apple and Google’s privacy restrictions, but it has already been announced by the government and is in an advanced stage of development. These people said that NHSX is currently in talks with Apple.
Although the NHSX app is not expected to be particularly invasive, sources suggested that NHSX’s view of the ideal balance between tracking specificity and privacy differs from that of Apple and Google. The cybersecurity arm of UK spy agency GCHQ, the NCSC, is also believed to be advising on the app.
Ross Anderson, a professor at Cambridge University who advised on the security and development of the application, told BI that UK authorities want “detailed” contact tracking. The logic here is that it would allow UK epidemiologists to take more effective action in response to COVID-19.
It is now unclear if the app meets Apple and Google standards, and if it would work properly, particularly on the iPhone.
Anderson told Business Insider: “The people of NHSX [have] this delicious choice between an application that will not work … or an application that will run on the platform but will not allow them to do the epidemiology they want. “
Jon Crowcroft, professor of Marconi Communications Systems at the University of Cambridge, posed similar questions.
“Apple and Google’s policies on all COVID-19 related applications were that if they came from a government health agency, subject to other normal controls, they would agree,” he told Business Insider, saying it was unclear whether The NHSX application may be blocked.
Finally, practicality can beat politics. The obvious solution would be to rebuild the app in the Apple and Google APIs.
Another source said, “Everyone expects that [Department of Health] rewrite your application to use the API and claim victory. “
NHSX and Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
