Comparing coronavirus apps
CORONAVIRUS APPS: HOW AUSTRALIA'S COVIDSAFE COMPARES TO OTHER COUNTRIES' CONTACT TRACING TECHNOLOGY
By Josh Taylor, The Guardian Australia
As countries around the world try to figure out the best way to limit the spread of coronavirus, many are considering some form of contact tracing app. But the methods and level of privacy intrusion vary widely.
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Richard Buckland, an engineering professor at the University of NSW, said more paternalistic governments like Australia liked to retain that control.
“The centralised approach means the government can make sure it happens, otherwise you have to trust people to act on this information” he said.
In the decentralised model, only those who have been close contacts of those who have tested positive know, whereas in the centralised approach, the government can get an idea of who all those people are, even if the information is restricted to health officials engaged in contact tracing.
No country can claim the app itself as the reason for any success in slowing the spread of coronavirus, because none has been running long enough, Buckland said.
“To be honest, we might never know,” he said.
“We will either be in world A or world B and we will never be able to compare the data between world A or world B.
“It’ll be very hard to answer questions about how impactful it will be, but clearly it won’t be worse than not having it.”
