Will a Tracing App Help Us Emerge from the Coronavirus Lockdown?
Last month we published an article which considered contact tracing apps being used to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). As the pandemic continues, the use of apps to help control it has been debated, contested, encouraged and developed.
It is an area that has been changing on a daily basis. This article seeks to provide an update to our earlier article, as well as look more closely at the UK's approach to an app seeking to minimise contagion and help ease the current constrictions on our daily lives.
From South Korea to the UK
We previously observed the South Korean approach, where apps collect data from public government information to enable users to identify how close they are to an individual who has been confirmed as having coronavirus. The information available to users about confirmed COVID-19 patients includes when the individual tested positive, demographic data, and some of their location history based on GPS tracking.
The UK has now developed something similar, and in the coming weeks the NHS will be launching its own contact tracing app. Matthew Gould, Chief Executive of NHSX (the health service's digital innovation unit) has said the app automates the process of contact tracing and aims to reduce transmission of the virus by alerting people who may have been exposed, so they can take action to protect themselves and others. This could be important in helping to tackle the virus and return to normality.
Mr Gould commented: "The app will be part of a wider approach that will involve contact tracing and testing. We are working hard to make sure that all these elements are properly linked up, to make it as seamless as possible and to ensure the app complements more traditional measures that, working together, can protect vulnerable groups and those who cannot or do not want to access digital tools."
How Does It Work?
Once installed, the app starts to log the distance between your phone and other nearby phones that also have the app installed. This is done using Bluetooth Low Energy (rather than using anonymised location data, which was an approach previously considered). An anonymous log of how close you are to others is created and stored securely on your own phone. If you develop symptoms of COVID-19, you can enable the app to inform the NHS. The NHS can then (subject to risk analysis) trigger an anonymous alert to other app users whom you have been in significant contact with over recent days.
The NHS has opted for a 'centralised model', meaning that the process which works out which phones to send alerts to happens on a centralised computer server. This is in contrast to Apple and Google's 'decentralised model', where the process takes place on an individual's mobile.
Despite the leading tech companies saying their approach offers greater privacy, the NHS believes it will be able to better adapt the system and evolve the app as the situation changes from a centralised server.
NHSX proposes that in future releases of the app, there will be an option for users to provide the NHS with additional information about themselves, with a view to identifying trends and hotspots. This would increase the information available about the spread of the virus, in turn helping to protect others.
Statement from the ICO
On 24 April an ICO spokesperson said: "people must have trust and confidence in the way personal data is used to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The ICO also recognises the vital role that data can play in tracking the pandemic and the need to act urgently. We have been working with NHSX to help them ensure a high level of transparency and governance. We will continue to offer that support during the life of the app as it is developed, rolled out and when it is no longer needed."
The Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, recently published a blog which said that data protection laws should not prevent the innovative use of data to in a public health emergency, so long as principles of law such as transparency, fairness and proportionality are applied. She commented: "we will want to see evidence that COVID-19 initiatives do what they intend to do – that they work in practice, that they are proportionate, that people can access their rights in law, and that there is a plan in place to stand down measures when no longer needed".
Next Steps
Despite the changes since our last article, the concluding remarks remain similar. The NHS contact tracing app will only be able to help contribute to beating the virus and returning to normality in the UK if a large proportion of the population install it. As Matthew Gould has said, this will require millions of people to trust the app and follow the advice it provides.