Page 15 - Book of Abstracts 2020

Anti COVID-19 #14 Using Bluetooth technology for COVID-19 contact tracing April 2020
IDEA anti COVID-19 # 14
Using Bluetooth technology for COVID-19 contact tracing1
APRIL 2020 2 Ole Jann, Pavel Kocourek and Jakub Steiner
Summary
 The coronavirus is transmitted indiscriminately through proximity, which makes tracing infections difficult.
 Bluetooth tracing apps can reliably record transmission possibilities even when the participants do not know each other and do not remember the interaction.
 This can be done with a high degree of privacy. A well-designed app provides a similar level of privacy to not using an app at all.
 Decentralized data storage means that the privacy and security of the system is highly resilient against exploitation by any powerful actor (such as a government).
 A disadvantage of protecting privacy through decentralization is that tracing apps need to be taken up by the population one person at a time. Their use cannot be checked remotely and hence cannot be effectively mandated by governments or health authorities. A very high degree of take-up is necessary to make them an effective weapon against the virus.
 The eRouška app by COVID19cz follows these principles and offers a very high degree of privacy protection. Specifically, it does not collect any data except the phone
1 This study represents the views of the authors, and not the official position of the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences as well as the Charles University, Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education. The authors wish to thank Daniel Munich for useful comments and suggestions on the draft text. Any possible inaccuracies and errors are the responsibility of the authors. The study was also published thanks to the support of the Czech 2Academy of Sciences within the framework of the AV21 Strategy program and a donation from the Experientia Foundation.
Contact: ole.jann@cerge-ei.cz
BACK TO CONTENTS
113