[liberationtech] Strength of Political Action, In The Era of COVID-19... More Theatrics & Side-Shows.

[Robert Mathews (OSIA)]

On 4/23/20 5:26 AM, David Stodolsky wrote:

> This appears to be virtue signaling. France is asking that the
> Apple/Google tracing security be relaxed.
>> https://apple.slashdot.org/story/20/04/21/2019202/france-says-apple-bluetooth-policy-is-blocking-virus-tracker#comments
> It appears that France has developed a slightly less secure tracing
> method than the coming Apple/Google API/OS built-in. The current
> limitation is that Apple doesn’t allow Bluetooth to run on the iPhone,
> if the app is in the background and the data leaves the phone. This
> has crippled TraceTogether, etc., since it makes tracing impractical
> with the iPhone.
>
> dss
>
> David Stodolsky, PhD                   Institute for Social Informatics
> Tornskadestien 2, st. th., DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark
> dss at socialinformatics.org <mailto:dss at socialinformatics.org>       
>   Tel./Signal: +45 3095 4070

Notions of *'contact tracing'* must be considered in broader 'technical'
and 'technological' terms.   For instance, consider this following
headline, which I have been discussing with my team since its publication.

*"2 billion phones cannot use Google and Apple contact-tracing tech
System developed by Silicon Valley relies on technology missing from
older handsets."*
TIM BRADSHAW, FT.COM - 4/20/2020, 12:29 PM
*arsTECHNICA*
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/04/2-billion-phones-cannot-use-google-and-apple-contract-tracing-tech/
 
MANY such subscriber-linked mobile handsets in-service are located
within *the Continent of Africa*, and the *Indian Sub-Continent.*  And,
they are MOSTLY NOT - iPhone 10s.

Of this, I shared the following sentiment with my staff and extended
teams....

    //This story SHOULD teach us that, no matter how LARGE any "tech"
    company may be, if those human beings WITHIN are NOT disposed to
    understanding "SYSTEMS" more wholistically (a widely abused term),
    products born out of this lack of understanding cannot be expected
    to meet basic aspects of //////functional//ity////.  ///It also goes
    without saying that SYSTEMS so constructed can also 'not' be
    expected to 'INTEROPERATE reliably' with OTHER systems of a LIKE,
    and/or UNLIKE construction too./

In this respect at least, and more importantly, taking note of the
UNIVERSALITY of COVID-19, backward operational compatibility and
INCLUSIVITY should have been critical 'usability' considerations.
-- 
/Dr. Robert Mathews, D.Phil.
Principal Technologist &
//Distinguished Senior Research Scholar//
//Office of Scientific Inquiry & Applications (OSIA)//
//University of Hawai'i/
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