both GPS and Bluetooth to collect data and
uploads it to central servers every hour.
Britain rejected the system Apple and Google
are developing because it would take too
long, said Matthew Gould, CEO of the National
Health Service’s digital unit overseeing its
development. The British app is weeks away
from being “technically ready” for deployment,
he told a Parliamentary committee.
Later versions of the app would let users
upload an anonymized list of people they’ve
been in contact with and location data, to help
draw a “social graph” of how the virus spreads
through contact, Gould said.
Those comments set off alarm bells among
British scientists and researchers, who warned
last week in an open letter against going too
far by creating a data collection tool. “With
access to the social graph, a bad actor (state,
private sector, or hacker) could spy on citizens’
real-world activities,” they wrote.
Despite announcing plans to back European
initiatives or develop its own app, Spain’s
intricate plan for rolling back one of the world’s
strictest confinements doesn’t include a tracing
app at all. The health minister said the country
will use apps when they are ready but only
if they “provide value added” and not simply
because other countries are using them.