Calling for Credibility
Binning UK’s contact-tracing app and the need for credible efforts. The MadHATTERs Editorial, 24 June 2020
MadHATTERs Weekly
Like what you read? Subscribe here.
So the UK’s finally ditched its centralised contact-tracing app. This wouldn’t have surprised those following its protracted progress involving a troubled trial on the Isle of Wight and its noticeable absence from Britain’s contact tracing scheme. And now the much-critiqued V1.0 has been abandoned for an app built on Apple and Google’s decentralised tech, commissioned in early May. Turns out the NHS’s been testing both against each other; just as well there’s a handy backup.
Lots of debate over what went wrong. A mismanagement fiasco. Technosolutionism potently mixed with hubris. The NHSx not playing nice. There’s the Bluetooth problem with both centralised and decentralised tech (read Dataswift’s analysis of the NHSx app).Or how the global privacy pushback against centralised contact-tracing apps didn’t stop the UK from going ahead with theirs, ‘cos it was all about having a central data pool to conduct virus-busting modelling and analysis.
But it comes down to credibility. To work well, COVID-19 tech requires intimate data exchanges between the apps, users, the tech and third-party data providers. These data flows should be navigated with a credible framework, whether it’s an unassailable privacy position, a unique data architecture or both. Something I’ve previously called for in this editorial space. Such credibility is critical to the tech’s success, achieved through a mix of political, academic, and technological clout (see ShareTrace’s efforts with the HAT-powered, user-owned personal data accounts architecture).
As more economies re-open, we won’t be able to avoid these intimate personal data exchanges needed to keep us safe. So we need to make sure they’re conducted effectively and responsibly, with trust and credibility.
MadHATTERs is a weekly newsletter covering technology, personal data, and the Internet. Its perspective championing decentralised personal data is led by Dataswift with the Hub of All Things (HAT) technology. If you like what you read, subscribe to receive MadHATTERs in your inbox. Find out more about the HAT at www.hubofallthings.com
