The United Kingdom is preparing to release an app that would alert people if they got too close to someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus, Sky News reports.
Top officials at the National Health Service said that they hope at least 50% of the population will use the app, since it relies on large numbers of people using it in order to work properly. The app would detect the phones of other users via Bluetooth and then make a record of that contact on the device. If a person does test positive for COVID-19, then they can upload those contacts to alert them. Sky reports that the app will not send users’ data to a central authority, in an attempt to relieve privacy concerns that could prevent people from using the app.
Sky also reports that a group calling themselves “responsible technologists” wrote an open letter to the head of the NHS England innovation unit, known as NHSX, and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care informing them that "location and contact tracking technology could be used as a means of social control.”
In response, NHSX held a meeting online with some non-governmental organizations, including some of those who signed the letter, to discuss their concerns.
"We could be using tech to augment and improve human processes, rather than, or as well as, creating a shiny new app," one person in attendance told Sky News. "That wasn't something discussed on the call."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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