Do you know what makes those ethics alarm bells ring? I also have some reservations about this. People allowing governments to track them in exchange for lottery tickets sounds pretty dystopian and an idea that we might want to avoid spreading. Also, I think one reason why I feel a bit uncomfortable about this idea is that it seems to involve entertainment—which is tasteless in this horrible tragedy that’s happening. But then, if it works and saves lives it might be worth it.
If I discovered that this idea was right and should be implemented, probably the best way to advance it would be to share it widely; writing to newspapers and people with large followings, lobbying politicians, sharing on social media etc. (Assuming that there isn’t some other better idea that I could promote instead.) It would be interesting to see a trial of this in some country, for example Singapore (because they already have the app but not enough people are using it) or the UK (they’re making the app and they already have a national lottery that’s popular).
What other ways of incentivizing people to use these apps might work? At first I thought about paying people, but that would be expensive. Lottery is cheaper. For example, if the UK government used 52 million per year on this, its cost would be 80 pence per person (+running costs). But few people would be incentivized to use the app for a year with that little money if they received it directly.
But before implementing this, the governments might want to wait and see how many people start using the app voluntarily. Only if that doesn’t work, they could start incentivizing with the lotteries. Then that policy would be easier to justify to people and the government might save money if they don’t have to use the lotteries at all.
I think you’ve identified the biggest alarm bell: “People might feel they’re selling their privacy for a lottery ticket”
Regardless of whether or not people felt like they were selling their personal data, they would be. Government probably needs to think very carefully about buying health and geolocation data from its citizens; it’s a weird dynamic.
It could be done in a privacy preserving way so people wouldn’t be selling their personal data:
““We collect no location data, no movement profiles, no contact information and no identifiable features of the end devices.”
The newspaper reports PEPP-PT’s approach means apps aligning to this standard would generate only temporary IDs — to avoid individuals being identified. Two or more smartphones running an app that uses the tech and has Bluetooth enabled when they come into proximity would exchange their respective IDs — saving them locally on the device in an encrypted form, according to the report.
Der Spiegel writes that should a user of the app subsequently be diagnosed with coronavirus their doctor would be able to ask them to transfer the contact list to a central server. The doctor would then be able to use the system to warn affected IDs they have had contact with a person who has since been diagnosed with the virus — meaning those at risk individuals could be proactively tested and/or self-isolate.”
Do you know what makes those ethics alarm bells ring? I also have some reservations about this. People allowing governments to track them in exchange for lottery tickets sounds pretty dystopian and an idea that we might want to avoid spreading. Also, I think one reason why I feel a bit uncomfortable about this idea is that it seems to involve entertainment—which is tasteless in this horrible tragedy that’s happening. But then, if it works and saves lives it might be worth it.
If I discovered that this idea was right and should be implemented, probably the best way to advance it would be to share it widely; writing to newspapers and people with large followings, lobbying politicians, sharing on social media etc. (Assuming that there isn’t some other better idea that I could promote instead.) It would be interesting to see a trial of this in some country, for example Singapore (because they already have the app but not enough people are using it) or the UK (they’re making the app and they already have a national lottery that’s popular).
What other ways of incentivizing people to use these apps might work? At first I thought about paying people, but that would be expensive. Lottery is cheaper. For example, if the UK government used 52 million per year on this, its cost would be 80 pence per person (+running costs). But few people would be incentivized to use the app for a year with that little money if they received it directly.
But before implementing this, the governments might want to wait and see how many people start using the app voluntarily. Only if that doesn’t work, they could start incentivizing with the lotteries. Then that policy would be easier to justify to people and the government might save money if they don’t have to use the lotteries at all.
I think you’ve identified the biggest alarm bell: “People might feel they’re selling their privacy for a lottery ticket”
Regardless of whether or not people felt like they were selling their personal data, they would be. Government probably needs to think very carefully about buying health and geolocation data from its citizens; it’s a weird dynamic.
It could be done in a privacy preserving way so people wouldn’t be selling their personal data:
““We collect no location data, no movement profiles, no contact information and no identifiable features of the end devices.”
The newspaper reports PEPP-PT’s approach means apps aligning to this standard would generate only temporary IDs — to avoid individuals being identified. Two or more smartphones running an app that uses the tech and has Bluetooth enabled when they come into proximity would exchange their respective IDs — saving them locally on the device in an encrypted form, according to the report.
Der Spiegel writes that should a user of the app subsequently be diagnosed with coronavirus their doctor would be able to ask them to transfer the contact list to a central server. The doctor would then be able to use the system to warn affected IDs they have had contact with a person who has since been diagnosed with the virus — meaning those at risk individuals could be proactively tested and/or self-isolate.”
From: https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/01/an-eu-coalition-of-techies-is-backing-a-privacy-preserving-standard-for-covid-19-contacts-tracing/