[LINK] COVIDFail. The IT debacle that could cost lives

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

[I have seen nothing recent on the number of downloads.

[IMHO, the number of current, updated versions must be very very low.

Opinion: COVIDFail. The IT debacle that could cost lives

The Manderin

Laurie Patton

19 June 2020

https://www.themandarin.com.au/135285-opinion-covidfail-the-it-debacle-that-could-cost-lives/

Another spate of COVID-19 cases being reported
<https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-18/coronavirus-cases-in-victoria-climb-blm-protester-positive/12368000>
in Victoria. China re-instating restrictions
<https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-15/coronavirus-update-australia-covid19/12354172>
as it sees infections return. Our chief medical officer says
<https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-11/coronavirus-update-australia-covid19-death-toll-brendan-murphy/12233110>
his greatest fear is a second wave, and there’s the likelihood the
coronavirus will linger around forever like the flu. Another IT debacle
from the federal government. But this one is different. In this case we
could see people die. We need a tracing app that actually works.

/It’s worth noting that Victoria is the only state known to have
actually used the COVIDSafe app. More than 20 people who’ve tested
positive have allowed its health department to download their data yet
this hasn’t identified anyone they didn’t already know about through
existing manual contact tracing methods. Presumably the app missed
numerous people with whom they must have come into contact./

/Millions of Australians are out and about in the false belief that
having downloaded the app they are somehow safer, because that’s what
the government told them. It’s still running TV commercials telling
people to download the app./

Documents released
<https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-06-17/covidsafe-contact-tracing-app-test-documents-rated-poor-iphone/12359250>
by the Digital Transformation Agency have confirmed that COVIDSafe’s
ability to communicate between two locked iPhones – about 40% of the
Australian market – was rated as “poor” and this was known at the time
it was launched. While Apple and Google are working on a solution, you’d
have thought this is something to be sorted out before launching the
product, surely?

The big question is, will COVIDSafe ever work? An Oxford University
<https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/Article/2020-04-16-digital-contact-tracing-can-slow-or-even-stop-coronavirus-transmission-and-ease-us-out-of-lockdown>
report
<https://www.research.ox.ac.uk/Article/2020-04-16-digital-contact-tracing-can-slow-or-even-stop-coronavirus-transmission-and-ease-us-out-of-lockdown>
suggests around 60% of the population needs to be co-opted for a tracing
app to be effective. Take-up in Australia appears to have stalled at
around 25%. The government itself has said we need a 40% take-up level.

The effectiveness of COVIDSafe is “extremely limited” and the contact
tracing app is unlikely to help prevent the spread of the virus,
according to a policy paper
<https://www.innovationaus.com/covidsafe-extremely-limited-new-research/>
from the Auckland University of Technology, the University of
Queensland, the University of Auckland and Massey University.

UNSW experts say
<https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/business-law/covidsafe-bill-privacy-protections-improved-more-needed>
there are deficiencies in the COVIDSafe Bill and explain why the “Google
knows everything about you anyway” argument is insufficient.

The Brookings Institution
<https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/inaccurate-and-insecure-why-contact-tracing-apps-could-be-a-disaster/>
has cautioned against a “rising enthusiasm for automated technology as a
centrepiece of infection control” and says it has “serious doubts” about
contact tracing through mobile phone apps.

For the record, I have no in-principle objection to a tracing app given
the current circumstances. But a review of the history of the COVIDSafe
app will in time reveal two fatal strategic errors. Firstly, a failure
to consult with the right technology experts to ensure the app was
fit-for-purpose from day one. Secondly, a failure to effectively
communicate the value of the project.

On the first count this exercise is yet a further example of a recent
tendency for half-baked IT schemes to be foisted upon us. Not to mention
outright debacles like the 2016 Census
<https://www.zdnet.com/article/census-2016-among-worst-it-debacles-in-australia-labor/>
and the problematic introduction of My Health Record
<https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/data-privacy-debacle-down-under-is-australias-my-health-record-doomed/>.
The infamous data-retention scheme
<https://theluckygeneral.biz/2015/12/21/data-retention-how-not-to-introduce-complex-legislation/>
provides a good clue as to why IT experts are wary of COVIDSafe.

Nearly a month after it was launched, it was revealed
<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/19/nsw-and-victoria-are-unable-to-use-covidsafe-apps-data-for-contact-tracing>
that state health agencies were still having difficulty integrating
COVIDSafe with their own IT systems and weren’t yet using the app.
Clearly they should have been involved in the development process not
just told to use it after it was launched.

People are wondering about the security of their personal and private
information. The attorney-general’s department declined to give a senate
hearing a guarantee that their legislation would override the US Cloud
Act, which requires companies to hand over data if request to do so by
American security agencies. This is important given that our data is
stored with Amazon, a US company.

The attorney-general, Christian Porter, has assured us Australian law
enforcement agencies will be banned
<https://www.themandarin.com.au/131492-christian-porter-to-block-police-from-accessing-covid-19-app-metadata/>
from accessing data from the app. However, the commonwealth ombud has
revealed
<https://www.zdnet.com/article/cops-are-getting-full-urls-under-australias-data-retention-scheme/>
that notwithstanding all the assurances from then attorney-general
George Brandis, police officers have used the Date Retention Act to gain
access to people’s web-browsing history without the legally required
search warrant.

At the heart of the problem with COVIDSafe is peoples’ sense that they
just cannot trust their governments when it comes to technology. Back in
2016, the prime minister’s special advisor on cyber security, Alastair
MacGibbon, warned
<https://www.computerworld.com/article/3470712/govt-cyber-advisor-sees-ongoing-impact-from-census-fiasco.html>
of a lack of trust in government digital services.

So my plea to the government and the opposition is simple. Let’s learn
from this exercise and see if we can do two things. Firstly, let’s build
a workable app that has the support of a broader group of IT experts and
human rights lawyers. And secondly, let’s find a way to persuade the
general public that, notwithstanding all the serious
government-initiated technology stuff-ups in recent years, we can have
confidence that the (updated) app is safe to use.

In the 1980’s television series ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ James Hacker
justifies squibbing on a hard decision by claiming “I am the leader of
my people. I must follow their wishes”. There’s a lesson for the
government in this, I reckon. It just hasn’t convinced enough of us that
it is sufficiently in our interest to be loading up our phones with a
mysterious app that some people say is dangerous – and nobody has proven
will actually work. The government needs to fix it or flick it.

/Laurie Patton is a former CEO/executive director of Internet Australia,
the NFP peak body representing the interests of Internet users. He is
currently Vice President of TelSoc, however the views expressed here are
his own. This article, since updated, was first published in //The Lucky
General/ <https://theluckygeneral.biz/about/>/./

 

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email: brd at iimetro.com.au