seems this problem with the app is being mis-reported. is it that some codes are not accepted or that some stream of results arent sending codes? i read it as the latter, the tweet mentions the ONS surveillance pillar specifically.
gov have required all venues to have QR code so people can scan in. its the usful purpose of the app, save people having to give details. there's no legal enforcment though, if a venue insists thats on them.
a two tier high/medium risk level gives next to no information. anyone in area under lockdown will know about it, everyone else is medium. Welsh levels make moer sense.
if app is overreporting risk, people wont install, and the value of it will diminish. tracking apps dont seem to have had good take up across europe as it is.
cute, we're clearly capable of building an app, politics and petty control freakery got in the way.
we may have even done so, dont know if this builds or functionally complete - https://github.com/nhsx/COVID-19-app-iOS-BETA
thats essentially what original NHSx app was intending to do, track where you go, who you were with or near, upload to big database. we're here now, better to stick to low tech keep the records to provide to contact tracers on request.
internal politics of NHS/PHE etc, yes contrators with interests, and everyone wants an app tailored to their country. there was a push at one point for an EU app, didnt gain ground because each country wants to do things to suit local sensibilities. pretty special sort of cockup they've gone...
Apple or Google are not providing an off the shelf solution. they offer an API (techy for rules to talk with) to use the bluetooth in a certain way (which is otherwise restricted), which devs can use to make a tracking app in a certain way.
NHSx didnt want to go with the approach on offer and...
fair enough, i cant say any more. i thought it was clear design came from Oxford acedemic team. is there any evidence that Cummings and his associates directed the approach NHSx took?
sure, this one in Newstatesman notes the NHSx, Oxford university involved in desgin, company Pivotal, and Palantir (have links to Cambridge Analytica too). this one in Techcrunch the NHSx CEO seems to taking a clear ownership of the app's architecture, and notes some interesting evasion of...
not as i've read/heard, they are involved in the data analysis backend piece and at least two other companies are in involved with infrastructure and the application. the architecture for the application is by NHSx either way.
nice conspiracy, the app design is from NHSx not Cummings and chums. if they are involved they're enablers for what NHS want to do. a Apple/Google solution could easily be used to do Cambridge Analytical type profiling, if you just ignore their licence agreements and access the metadata.
the challenge of getting the application to run in the background, so it doesnt interfere with use or eat battery. they thought they had found a way but seems this isnt hasnt worked as hoped, or the policitcal drivers are to prioritise uptake so bow to the objections of the centralised method.
the choice the NHS made for centralised system is on technical and scientific grounds. the alternative is been taken up because of undue focus on privacy and in part forced by Google/Apple unwilling to allow access to hardware. the Cummings link muddies the water of course but the main driver...
as i understand it, the German change is based on turf, local healthcare groups not wanting to hand over to a centralised authority. we dont have that tension to deal with so can go ahead with the better clinical application. the French are pressing ahead with their centralised model too.