Show HN: A decentralized and anonymous contact-tracing app | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: A decentralized and anonymous contact-tracing app

github.com

4 pointsraphaelj6 comments

Hi, OP here,

I started working on this app a couple of weeks ago, trying to improve Singapore's model of using Bluetooth tracking by adding data anonymization and decentralization features.

I ended up with a solution that is similar to the D3P-T, with some implementation differences.

The app is available as an APK for Android [1]. As for now, the iOS app is not easy to distribute, as Apple does not allow coronavirus-related apps to be published on the app store.

[1] https://github.com/RaphaelJ/covid-tracer/blob/master/release...

The design (bluetooth broadcast, temporary hash/tracer keys, & DB with timestamped 'positive' keys) are the major pieces I would expect for this solution, but with the Apple+Google partnership for Covid contact tracing (announced April ~10) what features/technology, in your opinion, could they be bringing to their solution? (Besides their heft of possibly being able to 'push' this feature/app into their phones.)

(Thank you for the succinct README. Still boggles my mind when these are not written well.)

The Apple+Google solution is technically very similar.

The main issue with contact tracers today is on iOS: Apple does not allow an application to perform a Bluetooth scan if the application is not on the screen and the phone unlocked. Apple and Google solution is thus to provide a tracing API that would allow such scanning capabilities if for contract tracing.

The details are not well known yet, so it's hard to say what will be the privacy issues. We don't know how the API will be implemented either, it could be totally opt-in if provided as a signed application instead of an OS update.

Really appreciate the remark about the README as English isn't my native language.

I am really surprised this didn't get more upvote/attention on ShowHN. Understood your project is facing massive headwinds with App store restrictions, but this is what tech/SW could be doing to help 'flatten the curve', and with data/privacy I'd hope there would have been a very robust discourse on the underlying tech for implementing contact tracing.

Indeed ... I might try to repost it later this week.

New discussion here: https://github.com/RaphaelJ/covid-tracer/blob/master/README....

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