Why contact-tracing apps haven’t lived up to expectations
Lack of trust
So why haven’t contact-tracing apps had more demonstrable success? First, there appears to be a lack of public trust in the technology and its use of personal data.
Earlier in the year, there was much discussion about whether the apps should upload data to a central database or store it on users’ phones in order to preserve their privacy. Most countries eventually opted for the latter, although France went with the former, less private system (and has reported very low take-up).
England also initially experimented with a centralized model but aftermuch criticismand reported difficulties switched to decentralized. However, the loud public debate may have left a permanent negative impression of the efficacy and inherent privacy concerns of government-developed tracking apps.
Indeed there is good reason to be skeptical of the apps’ effectiveness. Most countries (with the exception of Iceland) have also opted to use Bluetooth to record when app users come into contact rather than using GPS to track their specific location, again to protect privacy. But Bluetooth has a number of weaknesses that mean it can record contacts that never happened and miss others that did.
For example, the app might record you coming into contact with someone even if they are on the other side of a partition wall. But if you keep your phone in your back pocket it may not connect with another held by someone standing in front of you.
One study, which took place on a tram and compared the Italian, Swiss, and German apps, concluded that the technology was very inaccurate, no better than “randomly selecting” people to notify, regardless of proximity. The resulting false alerts have likely added to public confusion and lack of confidence in the tracer apps.
Technology problem
Another problem is, of course, that only smartphone owners can use the apps. Given that, in the UK,61% of over-65sdon’t have access to a mobile internet device, this means that the largest at-risk group is much less likely to be able to benefit from contact-tracing apps.
One solution to this problem might be to use alternative technology to register people’s contacts.Singapore has introduceda token that can be carried on a lanyard or in the pocket or bag, and that contains technology to enable it to fulfill the same function as a tracing app. New Zealand has also considered a similar “covid card” to circumvent the smartphone issue.
But ultimately, if any of this technology is to have an effect, the only evidence we have suggests it must be part of an effective test and trace system that includes manual contact tracing – something few countries have yet managed to establish. A tech solution is not always the answer.
This article is republished fromThe ConversationbyAllison Gardner, Lecturer in Computer Science/Co-founder Women Leading in AI,Keele Universityunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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