Apropos of @thesundaytimes article, a few thoughts: firstly, as I tweeted 2 days ago 👇 & in stark contrast to the #transparency around other tech/data intitiatives - *cough* @NHSEngland #DataStore *cough* - the team published a blog on what it was doing:
healthtech.blog.gov.uk/2020/10/29/how…
healthtech.blog.gov.uk/2020/10/29/how…
https://twitter.com/EinsteinsAttic/status/1321928586585059329
In this blog, the app team gave an explanation of the latest changes it had made - including a reduction in the #RiskThreshold, which took account of TWO factors: the inclusion of a measure of #infectiousness in the API *and* a new #distance algorithm...
healthtech.blog.gov.uk/2020/10/29/how…
healthtech.blog.gov.uk/2020/10/29/how…
In case folks aren't aware, @Google & @Apple's #ExposureNotification API is quite frequently updated. As the #Android developer pages (and #nhsxCOVID18app's blog) say, the #infectiousness field was only added at v1.6; with functionality changing at 1.7 👇
developers.google.com/android/exposu…
developers.google.com/android/exposu…
Meanwhile, @Apple's #iOS 13.7 which first incorporated #ExposureNotificationExpress into the operating system was launched at the beginning of September:
forbes.com/sites/davidphe…
and this update also included a new method to calculate #ExposureRiskValue:
developer.apple.com/documentation/…
forbes.com/sites/davidphe…
and this update also included a new method to calculate #ExposureRiskValue:
developer.apple.com/documentation/…
So there are a number of quite complex, significantly interacting 'moving parts' in play for an app that, in the UK, is now at least at version 3.9 - the #DPIA for #nhsxCOVID19app having last been updated on 1 October, at version 3.3 👇
gov.uk/government/pub…
gov.uk/government/pub…
Now the controversial bit, which I guess no-one is going to like: the #nhsxCOVID19app, LIKE ALL OTHER #ExposureNotification apps around the world*, is at best #experimental software (as is the API)...
__
*Which, as we've said, are #AppsForTheNextPandemic:
medconfidential.org/2020/apps-for-…
__
*Which, as we've said, are #AppsForTheNextPandemic:
medconfidential.org/2020/apps-for-…
...and, whatever else we think we're doing, those using it are all participating in a gigantic #PublicHealth '#ClinicalTrial'.
We are feeling our way. Methodically (thank fuck!). People are going to make mistakes. And through learning from them, things will hopefully improve...
We are feeling our way. Methodically (thank fuck!). People are going to make mistakes. And through learning from them, things will hopefully improve...
So while I will continue to hold all those using our data to account, as best as I am able, I am not going to lose my shit over a mistake that *may* have been avoidable but that, when it was discovered, *was fixed*.
We STILL don't know if the #RiskThreshold is set correctly...
We STILL don't know if the #RiskThreshold is set correctly...
...we are quite literally going to have to FIND THAT OUT, and it'll be dependent on a whole *bunch* of factors in what is after all a mass #technosocial experiment - not a magic #SilverBullet.
What's more disturbing to me is the number of people taking this as an excuse to...
What's more disturbing to me is the number of people taking this as an excuse to...
...advocate for a far more #surveillant, #location-tracking approach that I doubt would have convinced 20 million people to download the app, let alone use it.
Or, crucially, to follow its #advice.
(Not to mention other even longer term risks and harms that would introduce.)
Or, crucially, to follow its #advice.
(Not to mention other even longer term risks and harms that would introduce.)
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