It’s November and “Winter is coming” literally. Eight months since the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading across the world like wildfire, changing everything we do, how we live, work, play and feel and probably for years to come. Unlike the movies where countries and scientists are able to fight similar end of the world type situations, it’s eight months down the road and while we have learnt a lot about COVID-19, lots of countries and governments are still struggling on how to fight this invisible sneaking threat. Countries with huge resources such as the United States, Germany, UK and France and others have been implementing different measures and plans to fight COVID-19 through social distancing, awareness , contact tracing and exposure notifications among other things, yet the emergence of second and third waves of rising numbers is now a reality, despite such efforts. Technology has been taking center stage during the pandemic in various ways but most important in how it might help bring down the curve of infections. The Tech community hasn’t been short on offering solutions and technologies to help communities be more aware, from symptom checkers to contact tracing platforms and exposure notifications apps. Tech giants such as Google and Apple have teamed up offering their new GAEN (Google Apple Exposure Notification) bluetooth privacy-based technology to countries and states for their communities to adopt and use. If all such efforts and technologies are being implemented and offered to the millions, why isn’t it driving numbers down? “I am trying to find the answer like everyone, here” Well, as with any new technology, there are usually barriers of entry, in this case there are three! Trust, Adoption and Efficiency. Contact tracing and notifying people whenever they possibly came in contact with a COVID-19 positive individual are two things that are paramount to drive more infections down, but for that to be effective, it requires context (such as time and location) which may have an impact on one’s privacy if the technology used does not have privacy as a cornerstone, and this is where trust was shattered in the early days of the pandemic. The lack of trust is one of the main drivers of low adoption. Some countries have opted earlier into different approaches such as a centralized data collection model, or implemented solutions that failed to maintain adequate privacy controls picked up a lot of criticism and thus affecting the public perception even after changing course and focused on privacy preserving technologies and approaches such as GAEN. Although the United states and lots of the European countries have got lots of legislation and controls protecting privacy, adoption of new COVID tech that is said to help bring numbers down according to a new study from Oxford University and Google is still low. “Never send a Government to do a Startup’s job” , I have argued that to get the masses to adopt new technologies in such time, this is not a job governments would excel at, but one for tech companies and startups! In such a context I believe governments should have opted for similar strategies that are being mastered by technology companies to promote their solutions and tech to the masses. I have had the privilege to be part of the PathCheck foundation, a non profit organization spun out of MIT labs and focused on building privacy preserving technologies for governments and states globally to fight COVID-19. Through my work with Pathcheck since its early inception, I was fortunate enough to witness how governments, enterprises and communities are responding to COVID-19. What I find is a key differentiator in how different countries and regions are responding to COVID-19 through can be broken down into two things, perception and action. Taiwan has recorded its 200th day without ZERO locally transmitted cases Multiple countries within the MENA and GCC regions have opted for technology solutions to help fight COVID-19 as part of a bigger initiative, but the question remains, how effective those approaches were and could they have been more efficient? The UAE has been amongst the first who relied on tech in order to fight COVID-19, drones were used for broadcasting, disinfection and detection of crowds. The UAE collectively launched several apps to support in deterring COVID-19, the most notable of which is The ALHOSN UAE app, an integrated digital platform for COVID-19 testing & contact tracing in the UAE through which individuals can receive COVID-19 test results on their smartphones. AlHOSN uses the device’s standard bluetooth functionality to exchange bluetooth signals between devices, not the Google/Apple Exposure notifications “GAEN” API, which would present challenges in the application’s efficacy due to the fact that such bluetooth exchanges are not possible between IOS and Android (unlike GAEN) for example. Using the device’s standard bluetooth layer may expose a privacy risk if they are not encrypted and properly handled during transactions between devices, not to mention possible power consumption issues. Kuwait and Bahrain have both released contact tracing apps relaying on GPS technology rather than bluetooth following a centralized approach through capturing location data of users and uploading them into a centralized database, tracking movements of users and would pose possible privacy concerns. Those apps were highly criticized by the community for their highly invasive approach. This would have a possible impact on adoption and thus not being effective tools in fighting COVID-19. Contact tracing apps in Bahrain, Kuwait and Norway follow an invasive centralized approach, posing a great threat to privacy. These systems capture location data through GPS and upload this to a central database, tracking the movements of users in real-time. Qatar’s “EHTERAZ” has the capability of activating live location tracking of all users or of specific individuals, while requesting your Qatari ID as a requirement for using the application, which would potentially turn the application as a possible surveillance tool. KSA has been ahead of the curve by utilizing the GAEN technology in its Tabaud app for digital contact tracing and exposure notification. The reason i believe is that is the best approach from a privacy perspective is that while any technology would have flaws and possible risks, the process in which Google and Apple vets every single application that uses GAEN to ensure that the technology will ONLY be used for such purpose is extensive and multi phased and requires the coordination between Apple, Google and the health authority involved over the course of the submission process and ensuring there is no code or functionality that will expose the user’s privacy. Lastly on the COVID-19 tech wagon was Egypt, by releasing “Sehet Masr” app which requires registration using one’s full national ID along with GPS location tracking permissions which gets uploaded into a centralized database, although there is no contact tracing or exposure notifications functionality developed, only an alerting function if you are in a location near an area with infections! I can’t help but to think that the current approaches have failed to meet their goals basically because they haven’t met the user’s fears and while serving their core functionality. No one wants to get exposed to, or expose their loved ones, to COVID-19 but that also doesn’t mean when the pandemic is over, and it is bound to be over, that we wake up to our most vulnerable and sensitive data in the wrong hands. States and Governments would be putting their people in a tough position of choice between their safety and their privacy and for the most part, people seem to have favored their privacy. Numbers are on the rise everywhere, and it would be months before an effective vaccine is available to the public. I am a firm believer that technology can help in different ways fight this pandemic but if governments, states and policy makers aren’t prepared to assure the public on how this is being implemented in a way that preserves one’s rights in privacy and safety the community will always respond as it has done before which will make this winter a long one!
On Trust and Other Things…
Wait, so what’s happening in MENA back home?
But…
Why Privacy matters
Winter is Coming
