Thread by @Tupp_Ed, I was on my bicycle today, doing essential lawyer things when I [...]

I was on my bicycle today, doing essential lawyer things when I met a Garda checkpoint.
The pleasant Garda asked why I was out, and I gave her the old friendly moonface & told her I was on my way back from the office.
I offered to show her a letter but she said it was fine.

I pootled on towards home.

A pleasant exchange with a public servant and also a deeply objectionable interference by the state into my affairs.

Both can be true at the same time.

Also true; that an objectionable restriction of rights is justified in emergency circumstances.

Which brings me to the proposed Covid Tracking App.

I think this is shaping up to be a disaster. Not because I don’t like population tracking apps.

I don’t, but I also recognise that the extreme circumstances may justify a profound novel interference in personal rights.

I think it’s shaping up to be a disaster precisely *because* I think a properly designed and explained Covid Tracking App is likely to be a key part of Ireland’s efforts to reopen our society to one another.

And I am worried because the State is, so far, botching it.

They’re, apparently, only a short few weeks away from deploying this app. They haven’t responded to stakeholders like @DRIalerts offer to help.

They haven’t released the source code or DPIA and told the Irish Times that they wouldn’t before launch.

This is a project approach we’re familiar with from other Gov projects, like the PSC.

Pick a bad path, obfuscate to hide that mistake, then deny the mistake when it’s confirmed.

It all starts from an unwillingness to be transparent from the start.

This is all fun and games when you’re bulking on with a broken, illegal ID card scheme.

But it spells failure for a life or death app project that *must meet mass acceptance and trust to be functional*.

Basically, secrecy will kill.

here’s paper in Science positing that the early Euro data on infection suggests the Coronavirus is too infectious for manual tracking and tracing- it spreads too fast

It proposed the contact tracking app solution, taking inspiration from a Chinese model. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/early/2020/03/30/science.abb6936.full.pdf">https://science.sciencemag.org/content/s...

But the authors also warned that a contact tracing app isn’t a silver bullet.

“epidemic control with only case isolation and quarantining of traced contacts appears implausible in this case, requiring near-universal App usage and near-perfect compliance.”

They also recognise that the huge improvements in contact tracing represent the justification for asking the public to surrender some of their rights.

“Successful and appropriate use of the App relies on it com- manding well-founded public trust and confidence.”

The former head of no less a famously privacy-loving body than MI5 has also stressed that success or failure of a contact tracing app relies on the State being absolutely transparent and communicative with citizens to *earn their trust*.

https://twitter.com/hetanshah/status/1249263751179710466?s=21">https://twitter.com/hetanshah... https://twitter.com/hetanshah/status/1249263751179710466">https://twitter.com/hetanshah...

https://twitter.com/hetanshah/status/1249263751179710466?s=21

You will be used to seeing me complain that the state is doing data protection infringing things

But to be clear- I think a well designed and implemented app is necessecary and proportionate to our current circumstances

My fear is that the Gov are risking that aim with secrecy

And so, I find myself in the strange position of asserting that if the State has nothing to hide re it’s Corona Tracking App, it should have nothing to fear from letting everyone know all about it.

But don’t take my word for it;

https://twitter.com/jennifercobbe/status/1252220843138179072?s=21">https://twitter.com/jenniferc... https://twitter.com/jennifercobbe/status/1252220843138179072">https://twitter.com/jenniferc...

https://twitter.com/jennifercobbe/status/1252220843138179072?s=21

I wrote an easy to read explainer on Irish and EU efforts to bring in Covid Tracking Apps for my little newsletter, The Gist. https://thegist.substack.com/p/the-gist-whats-with-the-covid-apps">https://thegist.substack.com/p/the-gis...

The Gist: What's with the Covid Apps?

Across the world, mass population tracking apps are being deployed or developed. I try to get to the Gist.

https://thegist.substack.com/p/the-gist-whats-with-the-covid-apps

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