Thread by @uk_domain_names

Story via the Telegraph (!) is so ridiculous it beggars belief: because the UK's going it alone on a virus tracking app rather than following international standards, UK citizens may require a 2-week quarantine when they want to visit anywhere else.

Ultimate Little Englandism.

It's as ridiculous as saying: "No, we're not going to run Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android or Linux. We're going to code up a brand new operating system: Britishness 1.0."

Good luck getting that to work with anything!

UK solution: proprietary app, plus "immunity certificates" it will have to persuade every other country in the world to accept in lieu of quarantining British citizens.

The worst part about this is that it's NEW stupidity.

- We didn't quarantine anyone coming into the UK (just 273 out of more than 18.1 million people) - too late now
- We didn't build up PPE stocks - too late now
- etc.

But this app is NOW, not water under the bridge stuff.

Oh, and then there's this...

"UK COVID-19 contact-tracing app data may be kept for 'research' after crisis ends, MPs told

Want to opt out of that part? No chance, says NHSX chief"
theregister.co.uk/2020/05/04/uk_…

The other thing is, the UK app needs 80% of all smartphone users to install it in order to be effective. But that's the same as YouTube, the *only* app ever installed by 80%+.

Of course, the Tories will be able to blame the public for not participating.
wearesocial.com/uk/digital-in-…

Here's more background on the UK's go-it-alone approach to the coronavirus tracking app.
theregister.co.uk/2020/04/28/uk_…

National Cyber Security Centre weighs in...

"The NHSX team have put a huge amount of science, effort and testing into the app"

Ooh, science! That's all right, then...

(Rest of page is spent "justifying" why NHS's approach differs to EVERYONE ELSE's.)
ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/secu…

Conclusion: friends don't let friends install dodgy data-slurping apps.

Second dip into NCSC blog. On decentralised model i.e. NOT the UK approach:

"every user of the app gets some understanding of who is declared ill (and that list keeps being updated)

but

the public health authority - by design - knows pretty much nothing about ill people"

Fab!

Yes, they actually have the brass neck to present something amazingly useful - an app that can warn people they've been near someone ill, but which tells the Government nothing - as if it's a really, really bad thing.

Meanwhile, here's what the UK's centralised approach will enable. Doesn't that fill you with tingly joy all the way down to your toes? I can hardly contain my excitement at the thought of being able to provide that level of detail to Government!
ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/secu…

Plus there's also this to think about: "Exclusive: ‘Wobbly’ tracing app ‘failed’ clinical safety and cyber security tests"

Reassuring. Very reassuring.

I'll say it again: Friends don't let friends install dodgy data-slurping apps.

Just. Say. No.
hsj.co.uk/technology-and…

It's easy to imagine how it happened.

Other countries will have had their health services as "customer" when developing their app.

Whereas the UK's ultimate customer is a Government desperate to dabble in Big Data. Dominic Cummings practically dreams in the stuff.

Oh, and it seems GCHQ got to stick their oar in too. Nothing's more reassuring than having a spy agency's input into an app designed to spy on British citizens.
techcrunch.com/2020/04/28/uks…