Thread by @jelleprins

The Dutch government is asking Dutch companies to propose plans for the contact tracing app. Deadline is today.

They want to start testing this weekend 👀

*insert any Product Manager joke here*

This is just not realistic.

Not realistic to do a good interface design or a technical design. Not realistic for implementation or testing.

Furthermore, I don’t think Apple & Google’s APIs will be available? 🤷🏻‍♂️

The public debate on the implications of contact tracing apps has *just* started.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe we should explore this route and expect the conclusion to be that we should use apps for contact tracing... but if cutting corners leads to mistakes, that’s costly.

I don’t think I trust anyone who says this timeline is doable.

More and more people are suggesting that the government likely already has a partner and is keeping up with appearances.

Rumor has it that Accenture is in the running because "they developed something for Austria" - I'd really like to see that app.

The Red Cross app in Austria was developed by Accenture.

The app is only available in the Austrian AppStore, which means that expats and many others won’t be able to use it 🤯

That’s not how you get to >60% adoption 🤦

It seems to collect your phone number if you claim to be infected, to prevent abuse.

I don’t know the details, but I can think of other ways to prevent abuse that don’t make you so easily identifiable as your phone number...

On iOS the app needs to be in the foreground to work. Like, you have the app open and the screen on.

Otherwise it only sends your ID, but does not receive others’

*This is why you HAVE TO collaborate with Apple*

It uses Bluetooth to measure distance and exchanges IDs within 2 meters.

Unfortunately it looks like that if your phone is in your pocket or bag, the other person will register as further away than hd actually is...

It should be a bit more than 2M to be safe.

“Our source code looks like crap - we need time to clean it before we can open-source it. Oh, it’s also not documented properly”

That’s what you get when you rush.

I really hope Apple and Google will provide an open-source client and back-end that governments can use.

If not, then please let’s take the time, with a good team, to build something solid together with Apple and Google.

Otherwise every country will have a crappy rush-job - which only increases the security risks, lowers adoption and lowers utility.