QR-code based contact-tracing app brings 'defining moment' for UK’s 'world beating' test and trace system
- Reference: 1599841813
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/09/11/qr_code_nhs_contact_tracing_app/
- Source link:
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new smartphone-based app would be available from September 24 for England and Wales, and will use QR codes to “provide an easy and simple way to collect contact details to support the NHS Test and Trace system.” Scotland already has its own [2]app , we note, as does [3]Northern Ireland .
The Register [4]said that QR codes would be a feature of the app back in August.
The idea is pubs, restaurants, cafes and other venues will download posters for their premises ahead of the launch of the NHS COVID-19 app in England and its neighbor, allowing the public to “seamlessly check in to venues using the app.” The government has been encouraging businesses that already have their own QR system to switch to the NHS Test and Trace QR code.
“We need to use every tool at our disposal to control the spread of the virus, including cutting-edge technology. The launch of the app later this month across England and Wales is a defining moment and will aid our ability to contain the virus at a critical time,” Hancock said.
The time is indeed critical. Since Britain began to emerge from its pandemic lockdown, cases of the virus have been climbing. On Sunday, [5]the UK reported 2,988 new cases of coronavirus – the highest in a single day since 22 May. On [6]Friday the official R , or reproduction, number was measured at between 1 and 1.2, compared with 0.9 to 1.1 last week. The government on Friday announced new lock-down measure for Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city.
NHS tests COVID-19 contact-tracing app that may actually work properly – EU neighbors lent a helping hand [7]READ MORE
So: cometh the hour, cometh the QR code.
“The QR system is a free, easy and privacy-preserving way to check-in customers to venues, and we encourage all businesses to get involved and download and display the official NHS QR code posters,” explained managing director of the NHS COVID-19 app Simon Thompson.
Not only are businesses being encouraged to display the QR posters, but universities, hospitals, leisure premises, civic centres and libraries should also do the same, the government said.
The official announcement made no mention of implementing Apple and Google's method of detecting other smartphones to help contact tracing, but the [8]BBC has reported the app will exploit the feature.
In June, [9]the UK abandoned its efforts to create its own app based on a central database, [10]after criticism it lacked true user anonymity, was riddled with bugs, and was open to abuse during a trial on the Isle of Wight.
The contact-tracing app, once said by ministers to be “key” to the UK’s test and tract system, could not be expected before the winter, Lord Bethell, Minister for Innovation at the Department for Health and Social Care, [11]told the Science and Technology Committee in June. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had told public it would be part of the “world beating” system by the summer.
QR Codes? Well we did warn you just, er, [12]eight years ago that they'd be everywhere soon. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/
[2] https://protect.scot/
[3] https://www.publichealth.hscni.net/covid-19-coronavirus/testing-and-tracing-covid-19/stopcovid-ni-contact-tracing-app
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/14/nhs_tracing_app_irish/
[5] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54050342
[6] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54116939
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/14/nhs_tracing_app_irish/
[8] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54118022
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/uk_ditches_central_database_model/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/05/14/nhs_contact_tracing_app/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/18/uk_test_trace_app_winter/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/23/qr_codes_are_taking_over/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Hm.
If you'd held a tin of sardines up to the QR code and said "beep," would they have known any different?
Re: Re: Hm.
When possessing a smart-phone, scanning QR codes, and enabling Bluetooth becomes compulsory, I recommend setting the phone to ordinary still photography using flash. Thereby dimwitted enforcers will be thwarted. Immediately after admission to premises switch off the device and if feasible put it into a Farady Cage bag.
People requiring constant phone and Internet connection will need an dimwit-phone and a tablet or other device without phone capabilities. Privacy trumps inconvenience. Two fingers to clueless politicians who believe contact tracing a smart idea in context of Covid-19.
Re: Hm.
I have instructed an adult son living at home to give false credentials when asked in restaurants and pubs. The idea of some busybody calling round and telling us all to isolate for some period of time appals me. If we were still living in an era when smallpox was a hazard I would obey: not so for Covid-19. An upfront lie saves later aggravation should officialdom seek to verify compliance.
Paper is best
Paper based contact tracing is by far the best as it maintains anonymity as much as possible in that the details are only looked at and transcribed into a database if there is an outbreak in the venue. If nothing happens then they can be destroyed after a few weeks. It isn't a big job to transcribe a few handfuls of paper records if there is an incident.
A centralised system which captures user details directly into a database is open to abuse by lots of organisations at the click of a button or a demand under the 2000 RIP act or it's later amendments. Just how much do you trust the local authority or various "law enforcement" bodies not to abuse private data. There is also not an insignificant chance of the entire database leaking into the public domain with names, addresses and phone numbers!
Then there are issues about the apps themselves, their security, liability for data loss then phone data connectivity and the vague hope/expectation that everyone actually has a phone with a compatible version of OS and a functioning battery!
Lets just keep things simple please.
So... a poster. One swedish coffee shop I know has had their own qr code on a poster for at least a month. But I suppose they're trying.
(Said bakery also finds that customers may not know how to scan a qr code, not all android phones do it in the same way for example.)
I'll give it ....
.... 24hrs before someone discovers a juggernaut-sized security hole or twelve in it.
Or am I being too optimistic?
Re: I'll give it ....
".... 24hrs before someone discovers a juggernaut-sized security hole or twelve in it."
Soon, it will be illegal for researchers looking at the source code for security holes:
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2020/09/04/voatz_supreme_court/
And exactly what does the app do with the QR code once it's read it?
Most reports are a bit light in detail/ According to the only privacy statement (for the trial, not the launch) I could find it's supposed to store the locations on the phone so I have a list to tell me where I've been. Somehow I think I might have worked out where I've been for myself. What use am I going to make of that? Does the app phone home to find a list of premises to which an outbreak has been traced? If so, at what point is the privacy statement quietly changed so the app can upload the list so the list can be checked centrally - so much more efficient?
Wouldn't it be nice to have someone in charge who had an impeccable a track-record of trustworthiness in sageguarding PII?
Thank goodness
At last! I was feeling a bit wheezy but went to the pub anyway. SAVED by a QR code. It's so simple I wonder why nobody thought of it earlier.
Hm.
Not much use if you don't have a smartphone, as I discovered on attempting to enter a pub a few weeks ago. They had to scrabble around to find a piece of paper for me to write on...