Wednesday, May 6, 2020 - 09:41

*Inter-operability with Spanish systems raises eyebrows

The GSD have been advocating comprehensive testing and robust contact tracing to combat COVID for a long time. However if technologies are to be relied on for contact-tracing they must safeguard individual rights and protect civil liberties.

The Government has said that it is considering the roll-out of a contact-tracing APP in Gibraltar. The form of this, how it would work and collate or share data is crucial. The GSD favours a de-centralised approach and not one which results in any central data collation or storage by the State. At present the APP being developed for the NHS in UK would result in a centralised approach whereas the system being developed by Google/Apple would take a more de-centralised approach and result in the individual user having more control of the use and sharing of data. Google/Apple intend to allow APPs designed by public health authorities worldwide to use its system.

EXPLANATIONS NEEDED

At Monday’s press conference the Chief Minister said that in its discussions with Google about the contact tracing system this would likely “give us interoperability with the Spanish systems.” The Government has also said it continues in discussions with NHS on the possible use of their centralised APP. Both these statements raise more questions than answers and need explanation.