The serious and compounding issues surrounding large scale public contact tracing initiatives are far less intimidating in a private setting, where programs to digitize aspects of the workplace (in this case, proximity and contact alerting) can be far more iterative and fit for purpose. Google and Apple are admirably respecting people’s privacy while developing a widespread and effective contact tracing initiative, but the inherent limitations with public contact tracing make any efforts difficult to align with real-world conditions - such as a need to combine data that is private and sensitive. “What are not doing is building the end apps for public health authorities (PHAs)… Many public health authorities do not have the ability to create, so there are both delays in launching these solutions as well as gaps in functionality,” says Cottrell. While Cottrell argues that “Apple and Google's program solves a lot of things, it's set up where it's very protective of personal info,” and that on the public side their system is “the only one that we believe will reach that crucial 60% threshold,” there remain significant limitations. “Further than that, some are violating certain principles about data privacy, mixing health and personal data in ways they shouldn't be, and this is very concerning,” Cottrell continues. “As these digital contact tracing apps launch, there's a lot of fragmentation - many have significant limitations like always having the app in the foreground, and that's not realistic in day-to-day use,” says Jason Cottrell, CEO of software studio Myplanet. The problem with public contact tracing initiatives are numerous: the scale of the user base is too large and the data too sensitive, there can be little collaboration between parties, and even with a common foundation to work from (such as Apple and Google’s open API system) the people in charge of the actual operation of the app are not equipped to handle the task. Developing a lifesaving app quickly, effectively and securely is just as difficult as it sounds - when you factor in a public health pandemic and need to immediately roll out at scale, it starts to get very complicated indeed.
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