Trading Privacy for Health !

Like the rest of the world, we are getting  used to being constantly tested to see if we are showing signs of Coronavirus infection.  If that test proves positive the health people will be vitally interested in where we have been and who we have been with.  It seems that the world of electronics has developed an app that will do that task automatically.

It all revolves around the mobile phone we all carry.   This clever app communicates with every other mobile phone containing a similar app and should the two phones come in 1.5 metre contact with one another for fifteen minutes or more it records the phone number and owners name in its memory bank.

That information would be vital in warning other people that they have been in close contact with an infected person and in many cases the person involved would have no idea of the identity of others.  Perhaps they spent time in a checkout queue or sat on a seat in a crowded bus or train. The health people are getting quite excited at the prospect of being able to track the progress of this virus as a way of removing it from our community.

The government is hoping about forty percent of the public will install this app in their phones to give the sort of herd immunity that would be necessary for success.  They insist that the app will not be used for the collection of other data and its sole function will be to track others who may have come within infection range of a person suffering the virus.

The people who guard our privacy are not so sure and sound a warning.  Electronics is an ever changing world of constant innovation. We are about to encounter the 5G network and all the marvels that promises.  Should someone develop the ability to automatically lock onto this health app it would divulge valuable commercial information on our shopping habits and general movements. Data has become an ever valuable commercial commodity and there are great rewards for the clever people who can devise methods of avoiding security protection.

This virus has changed the world as we knew it and the casualties have been the economy and employment.  We can not expect to return to a modicum of normalcy until the virus has been beaten and we need to make a decision if this app is worth the privacy risk to achieve that objective. There is no doubt it delivers a valuable health tool, and a forty percent takeup rate could be quickly achieved.
It seems that this is a personal decision each person must make !