To do or not to do….the Covid app.

Corona or Covid-19 as some like to call it – is in the news everywhere. It has practically become the central theme of the world now. With due respects to people and families who lost their loved ones – it would be safe to say that Covid-19 has also spun off many unexpected positives. Low levels of pollution,  Himalayas visible from far off places, free movement of wild animals etc. It also has spun off a technology challenge / opportunity.

‘How can we?’ or ‘can we at all?’ use technology to map the infected patients and alert the healthy ones?

There are several countries like Australia, Singapore, China and many more that have launched COVID apps for contact tracing. Aarogya Setu is one such app launched by Govt of India.

Not surprisingly there are naysayers and sceptics who are thrashing this initiative.  In this article – let us take a view into some of these and objectively look at it.

How do the contact tracing apps work?

Not very different than Google Maps. The first step is to get as many people as possible to use this app. Now, when a person (of course with the app) is moving around say in city – his movements are kept track of in the app. If the person happens to be Asymptomatic patient and figures it - 2 days later, then all the people he was in touch with for the past 2 days can be alerted. The app also helps to identify clusters or hot spots of infection, helping local authorities to initiate containment in that area.

Great logic and will work for sure. The Govt needs to make sure a large volume of people use the app for this to be successful.

Privacy concerns?

One of the biggest concerns is that there is no specific Data Protection Law in India under which this App could have been safeguarded or evaluated. Though there is a proposed bill - Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 – but that is yet to become a law. Work in progress.

The other big concern is what happens to the data being collected. I installed the app on my phone to figure that app takes information like name, gender, travel history, telephone number, basic health info and location. I will be concerned if this data is misused by tele-callers who inundate me with unsolicited sales calls. There is no financial data or major identity data– so I do not have to be bothered about losing my identity or bank balance.

On one hand most of the users would happily and voluntarily part with data on social media platforms and other apps. How else do you think Amazon and Facebook know what is (was) on my mind? Which product or service interests me. I can say with confidence that possibly Facebook, Amazon and Google know more about us than any company HR where we work or even our near and dear ones.

Track the tracker!

Various benchmarks are used to track the tracker– of course there is no standard way of doing it. Looking at the way MIT Technology review does it. It looks at 5 areas:

a)       Is the App voluntary?

To begin with the app was said to be Mandatory. Driver’s license is mandatory, and one can be punished for driving without one. This app was compulsory, but cops were not stopping you to check if you obeyed the Govt. The government, to their credit, is trying to allay the fears around data misuse and have made the use of Arogya Setu completely non-compulsory. The app now holds the record for world's fastest-growing mobile app with over 100 million downloads.

b)      Limitation on data use?

The govt has not clearly mentioned nor the data protection provisions elaborate on this. We just need to trust the govt here. People who are worried this could be used for surveillance should remember that if you use anything that is “SMART” – it is watching you – Smart phone, Smart TV or Smart home.

c)       Data Destruction?

Here the Govt has come clean. It has a data destruction policy and most of the data is stored in the phone itself for unaffected people.

d)      Data Collection?

This is a relative comparison. Compared to China and Turkey – India is collecting data that is absolutely required. Compared to some EU countries – India may be overstepping – like it asks questions like – do you have Diabetes or BP? Anyway, for most of the Indians Health info is not a very big secret.

e)      Transparent coding?

The app is developed by NIC. Not sure if they have adhered to any specific standards but if the app must be successful in the long run – it will become standardized and interoperate. I am hoping it will work well with Apple and Google’s initiatives.

Conclusion:

Comparing the potential upsides and the potential downsides – I would choose to have the app installed on my phone with a hope that all those around me too do it as well. Until the vaccine comes – until corona is overcome – let us do all that we can to stay safe.