[EdLUG] Fwd: I thought you might like this

[Andrew Smith]

Andrew


Tracking app’s code must be open source to protect our privacy By Readers
of The National
<https://www.thenational.scot/author/profile/78900.Readers_of_The_National/>

[image: Tracking technology will be vitally important as part of a test,
track and isolate policy]
Letters

Tracking technology will be vitally important as part of a test, track and
isolate policy

NHS England has announced that they are working on a smartphone app to
track everyone’s location which will be used to track people who have
tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. This is vitally important as part
of a test, track and isolate policy, which until we get a vaccine is the
only way out of a total lockdown.

However it is also, as Joanna Cherry wrote, a massive invasion of privacy
and must be done with privacy at its heart and be seen to be working as
such by those who want to use it. We know the government has mass
surveillance operations as part of its Tempora programme with GCHQ, which
are passed to the NSA. The UK Government broke our trust with this
programme and must be shown to respect it with a deliberate tracking app.

The only way to do that is to ensure the app is open source. All source
code must be published. This is how computers that run the internet are
secure, and allows for collaborative development including debugging and
security checks. There will certainly be no shortage of researchers
thrilled to get their eyes working on checking over the app for best
practice in terms of security and privacy.

There also needs to be an independent scrutineer to check that those with
access to the data we submit to this app have only the access necessary.
The UK Government often hands this task over to the National Cyber Security
Centre at GCHQ, which is the same organisation tasked with doing mass
surveillance of our communications – a clear conflict of interest. It must
be an independent organisation not run by spies.

If the UK Government cannot take these simple steps to keep us safe from
their abuses then the Scottish Government must recommend against using the
NHS England app and create their own using best practice open-source
methods.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.edlug.org.uk/pipermail/edlug/attachments/20200426/1f5cda61/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 31886 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.edlug.org.uk/pipermail/edlug/attachments/20200426/1f5cda61/attachment-0001.jpg>