No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Google/Apple Criticized... For Seeking To Protect Privacy In UK Gov't Covid Contact Tracing
from the always-a-complaint dept
There are plenty of legitimate things to complain about regarding some of the big internet companies -- but so many people these days view things through a weird prism in which every single action absolutely must be for evil intent, even when it's actually for a good reason. Sometimes this leads to crazy reactions in which the companies are criticized for doing the exact opposite things, with both approaches being framed as nefarious.
The latest is a very odd piece by Rory Cellan-Jones in the UK. The National Health Service (NHS) there had a contact tracing app early in the pandemic, but last summer, recognizing the limitations of its own system, switched to the framework developed by Apple and Google early on. As you may recall, Google and Apple (somewhat surprisingly) came together early on to set up a framework for contact tracing -- and the two companies put privacy front and center in the development of the system, with both recognizing (1) the inherent privacy concerns of medical information, and (2) the fact that many people already were skeptical of the two companies.
And, pretty quickly we saw some weird pushback, like the Washington Post whining that the app was too protective of privacy, keeping your health information out of the hands of government officials.
When the UK decided to switch over to Apple/Google's system, it agreed to abide by the privacy rules that Apple and Google established. But, it appears the NHS tried to push the boundaries and go beyond the privacy framework. Specifically, under the updated version, if a user tested positive for COVID, the app asked the user to upload their "venue" history (all the places they had "checked in" to according to the app). But a core part of the privacy setup was that your location info was designed to be kept decentralized and on your phone. The fear being that if you're uploading your locations it becomes a prime surveillance tool. Thus, Google and Apple rejected the updated app.
And that leads to the BBC piece that explains all of this, but then concludes by complaining about Google and Apple's ability to block these privacy-invasive feature:
What this underlines is that governments around the world have been forced to frame part of their response to the global pandemic according to rules set down by giant unelected corporations.
At a time when the power of the tech giants is under the microscope as never before, that will leave many people feeling uncomfortable.
Really? It seems odd that this should be the point that leaves people feeling uncomfortable. It set up rules to help keep everyone's data private. The government tried to violate those rules. Google and Apple said no. If we should feel uncomfortable about anything it's about the government trying to sneak around the clearly established privacy framework.
And, no, governments are not being "forced" to frame part of their response according to the rules set down by "giant unelected corporations" (I'm separately unclear who elected the NHS officials working on this app, but alas...). After all, the NHS had its own app before, but decided that the Google/Apple framework was a better one to adapt.
So what a bizarre stance to take to argue that this effort to better protect privacy somehow makes those two companies look bad.
The thing that gets me the most about stories like this is that they undermine stories in which real concerns and real bad behavior are called out. When you automatically lump all actions into the "ooooh, evil big company" pile, without determining whether there are legitimate, non-nefarious reasons for their actions (or, as in this case, concepts that are designed to better protect end-user privacy), it makes it that much harder to focus in on the real concerns.
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Filed Under: contact tracing, covid, privacy, uk
Companies: apple, google
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"according to rules set down by giant unelected corporations."
Ummm then write your own you blabbering idiots.
They made a franework to help, you then wanted them to violate users trust & they said no... and now claim they are the bad guys.
Sadly far to many people will grumble about how big tech is bad while ignoring the leaders telling them this let a whole bunch of them die needlessly.
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I am Jack's complete lack of surprise
Really there is nothing governments hate more than privacy protecting others from them. We saw it with the Clipper Chip, their demands for Apple backdoors and others. If they say they care about protecting your privacy while not curtailing themselves in any way they are lying to you.
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pot, meet kettle
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The government rebuffed offers by said companies to help with the app and squandered billions on outsourcing test and trace to a company run by a tory donor, one that the health minister used to work for. The corruption and the government's ties to the folks behind Cambridge Analytica meant a significant chunk of the population had no intention of using any ap they produced... And lo and behold the government people expected would be shady when it comes to privacy and personal data are acting shady. Better lash out at big tech to try and distract people!
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Re: pot, meet kettle
Less than one per year, 30 month gap, "account" = ZOMBIE.
Can't be bothered by dozens of major topics, but THIS dullness on a dying site draws it out.
The simplest explanation is ASTRO-TURFING.
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Re: Re: pot, meet kettle
And I'm IN again, after dozens of tries on this!
Like a switch was turned when Maz thought I'd given up.
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Re: Re: Re: pot, meet kettle
Mike might've, or might not've, flipped a switch, so to speak. However, my finger is never very far from the magic "call it like it is" button. Guess what....
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'Not from us we meant. Never from us.'
'The public should feel safe in using online services without having to worry that their private data might be used without their consent. ... what do you mean 'No we can't have all that private data without the user's consent', we're the government, we have a right to track every single movement and action people might do!'
Nice of them to shoot their own arguments about user privacy and control of personal data in the back like that, I'm sure companies will most certainly not bring that up the next time they're being accused of not caring about privacy and user data.
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Uncooperative
Some people are okay with the power of big corporations, as long as the corporations bow down to them. But should corporations dare act defiant, only then do they begin to get angsty. If you ever come to rely on large industries always being "on your side", justified or not, eventually someday you're going to find yourself disappointed.
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The only thing about A & G blocking a spying contact tracing app that will leave many people feeling uncomfortable, is the inevitable concern of how many they may have missed.
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Re:
The government which in March of 2020, just as the first wave was kicking off, shut down the NHS' existing test and trace systems to instead blow a fortune on months of development work on a private system developed by one of their cronies that ended up not working. Can't imagine why the same corrupt ministers responsible might want to shift the blame to apple and Google the same way they tried to shift the blame for its colossal failure onto the NHS by putting their branding on it.
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I deleted the contract tracing app shortly after it was rolled out. After the UK gov decided it would start sharing test and trace data with the police.
I'm glad to see G&A sticking to their guns with this. You can talk about elected vs unelected. The fact remains the UK government has an atrocious track record il in terms of data privacy, cyber-security, and sacrificing everything to the altar of national security/law and order.
This move, ironically makes me more likely to reinstall the app.
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Other than they established a monopoly, I don't know of any reason someone would want to use them if they could avoid it.
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thx
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