[LINK] RFC: Does CovidSafe Actually Work?

[Hamish Moffatt]

On 29/4/20 12:56 pm, Roger Clarke wrote:
> I'm sceptical.
>
> I've flung together some preliminary notes, with a view to 
> establishing what's known about the effectiveness of apps like this.
>
> I'd appreciate feedback, pointers to sources, and pointers to people 
> who are actively working on such questions.


In point 1 (3), you write:

/The Australian 'CovidSafe' app appears, as promised by the government, 
to store the data solely on the primary device. At least the model of 
each phone is transmitted and stored in cleartext, i.e. unencrypted./

The second part appears to be (a) irrelevant here, and (b) incorrect. 
The app has been observed to store all of its data in encrypted storage 
on the phone.


As to the false positive rate, I'm not convinced this is a problem in 
Australia. Right now we have such a low case rate and some state 
governments have announced a testing blitz, so some additional targeted 
testing seems quite reasonable.


Hamish
//