[LINK] Absence of evidence to support contact-tracing apps

[Tom Worthington]

On 25/4/20 4:22 pm, Roger Clarke wrote:

> ... Covid-19 contact-tracing app ...

Professor Troncoso's team at EPFL seem to have a reasonable approach
with "Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing"
https://github.com/DP-3T/documents/pulse

In the Australian case, and perhaps UK also, legislation may not be the 
whole answer. The public needs to feel the app is being overseen by 
people who are credible and competent.

The Chief Digital Officer at the DTO, would appear to be the equivalent 
to the Chief Medical Officer when it comes to government IT, and so a 
suitable public servant to speak publicly about the tracking App project.

The government services minister, Stuart Robert, made assurances over 
the the App. He was awarded a Master of Information Technology by QUT in 
1998, so should be competent to express such a view. However, Minister 
Robert previously claimed a failure of the myGov portal in March was due 
to a DDoS attack. The Minister later admitted there was no attack, which 
makes him less than credible spokesperson on IT. 
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/minister-backflips-on-mygov-ddos-attack-claim-539704

The Australian Government has a very limited pool of suitably qualified 
ministers to speak on a technology project (Shadow Cabinet has even 
fewer). 
https://www.torrens.edu.au/blog/business/what-degrees-do-ministers-in-australia-have-and-why-it-matters-guess-the-top-3

Senator Reynolds, Minister for Defence, might be the best choice, with 
her military training.


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Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P http://www.tomw.net.au
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Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University
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