Sigh. I guess I’ll have to say something even though I’m way over my COVID019 quota for today. OK, here goes...

First off, a bunch of people have been retweeting this thread. Which is lovely, but it was written before today’s app release or I’d seen the documents that went with it. That said, almost none of the questions were answered. That’s disappointing. https://twitter.com/stilgherrian/status/1254222837935529984

I have not yet read the enabling Determination so I have no comments on that yet. I’ll read it shortly. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2020L00480 Of course we haven’t see the magical legislation that will protect us further, let alone seen it debated in Parliament and passed. Pig in a poke.

I continue to be disappointed that the government and even journalists cheerfully assert “This will save lives”. As discussed previously there are potential scenarios where it could do more harm than good. We need to be honest about that. This is a punt. Maybe we’re OK with that.

I am bitterly disappointed that the government is framing this as Australians needing to “take up the challenge” so that if the take-up doesn’t meet the targets it’s OUR fault for not trusting the government. Even using this marketing trick shows they they can’t be honest.

I am bitterly disappointed that the government was repeatedly framing the app as “protecting our nurses and doctors” and had an array of them at the launch. How dare you frame critics as wanting to kill nurses and doctors. How very dare you.

Oops. Typo in first tweet of this thread. I meant “COVID-19” obviously, and unless it’s not clear this is all about Australia. https://twitter.com/stilgherrian/status/1254366494198075394

So what are my views so far? Well, I’ve been busy writing something else this evening, so this is VERY first impressions based on comments from people I trust who’ve been looking at it more closely. I can’t be arsed linking for now.

First, people examining the app itself are reporting that it does seem to aim to do what the documents say. (Not the politicians because they fumble it.) Like, what did you expect? Why would The Government™ or some mysterious Them™ try to fuck up a pandemic response?

Second, people will doubtless find bugs. This has all been rushed, and this is the very first public version. Let’s not get too OMFG THIS IS HOPELESS over that. Get a fucking grip. But do watch out is SERIOUS problems are found, and watch how the government handles that.

The challenge here is that contemporary politicians tend to waffle an d bullshit rather than acknowledging glitches. Their response should be “Thanks for that, it’ll be fixed next week”. They tend to be incapable of that. Let’s see. I don’t hold up much hope.

The challenge for the media is to be intelligent about changes as the situation evolves. Already they’re being their usual parrot selves. BUT THIS ISN’T WHAT YOU SAID LAST WEEK. No, of course not. As new data comes in you adjust the plan. Kill anyone who says “backflip”.

What am I up to? Three. Third, no one has seen the back end or its spec or anything about it except some hand-waving on the official website. What should we think of that? That it’s automatically bad? Or that things are happening quickly and we’ll see something soon? Who can say.

I draw your attention to @joshgnosis’ piece, “Coronavirus app: will Australians trust a government with a history of tech fails and data breaches?” https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/26/coronavirus-app-will-australians-trust-a-government-with-a-history-of-tech-fails-and-data-breaches I guess we’ll soon find out.

Fourth and finally, will it work? Define “work”. What is the actual goal of the app? What measurable result will cause us to say “Yep, that worked”? No hand-waving “If it save lives” because without really complicated modelling there’s no way to know.

As I’ve said repeatedly, no one has shown us any evidence for or against using this app to be a net benefit. There’s plenty of assertions, and plenty of really good commentary from experts about how it MIGHT help. But “might” is not the same as “will”.

Specifically, “Using the app will allow us to relax social distancing rules” keeps being said. How do we know that? Or is merely saying it repeatedly enough?

If the goal is simply to reduce some aspects of a contact tracer’s workload, well let’s just say that. None of this “step up to the challenge” and “saving nurses” blackmail. See @peripatetical’s detailed explanation of that. https://twitter.com/peripatetical/status/1254351060891627520

So, the bottom line. Will I be installing the app? No, not yet.

1. This is the first version. It’ll be wobbly.
2. The legislation isn’t in place yet. Do that first, people.
3. I won’t be within 1.5m of ANYONE for more than a few minutes for at least two weeks. No point.

Obviously your situation is different from mine, so you should make your own decision. And of course you can change your mind in either direction at any time. It’s really much less a drama than it seems to have become.

Two final tweets. And then I will NOT be responding to your replies because I’m going to bed...

1. Other people know far more about each individual aspect of this than I do. Read epidemiologists, privacy experts, and cybersecurity experts (but remember they’re paranoid), legal experts. Do not listen to politicians, health bureaucrats, or random punters.

2. My thinking on this is evolving daily, because the situation and our knowledge is evolving daily. So should yours.