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Russia seems to be - finally - rolling out a coronavirus contact-tracing app.
Mini thread: Why so late, how they got here & some lessons for Russia's insistence on home-grown technology solutions.
1/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/17/russia-develops-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-a72068
Mini thread: Why so late, how they got here & some lessons for Russia's insistence on home-grown technology solutions.
1/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/17/russia-develops-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-a72068
All the way back in February, Russia's PM Mikhail Mishustin (who fancies himself as - and by all accounts is - a bit of a tech guru) started talking up some super hi-tech GPS-enabled covid patient tracking system.
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One idea was to get Russia's mobile operating networks to somehow automatically use mobile phone users' location data to send people an SMS if they had been near somebody who was/subsequently became covid-positive. No downloads, apps or need for users to input info.
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When somebody tested positive for covid-19 their phone number is automatically added into a health system database, the idea was then to get the networks to use the location data from that phone to notify anybody else who had been close to that phone in recent days.
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It quickly proved a little tricky.
For instance, the networks said location data wasn't accurate enough. In a city like Moscow, even being 100m out could have meant thousands of extra "contacts" being identified.
5/ https://www.forbes.ru/tehnologii/395903-nayti-koronavirus-kak-vlasti-mogut-razvernut-sistemu-slezhki-za-kontaktami-bolnyh
For instance, the networks said location data wasn't accurate enough. In a city like Moscow, even being 100m out could have meant thousands of extra "contacts" being identified.
5/ https://www.forbes.ru/tehnologii/395903-nayti-koronavirus-kak-vlasti-mogut-razvernut-sistemu-slezhki-za-kontaktami-bolnyh
Plus, it would've been illegal and needed new regulation before it could be done.
That regulation wasn't drafted until July and was put out for a 14day public consultation & anti-corruption checks.
6/ https://roskomsvoboda.org/60878/
That regulation wasn't drafted until July and was put out for a 14day public consultation & anti-corruption checks.
6/ https://roskomsvoboda.org/60878/
Its official status - today - is that the responses are being reviewed.
In other words, it appears to have been ditched.
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https://regulation.gov.ru/projects#npa=105648
In other words, it appears to have been ditched.
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https://regulation.gov.ru/projects#npa=105648
Meanwhile, as the 1st wave hit, official attention seemed to switch away from contact tracing - which the WHO calls "indispensable for every country" and "essential to containing the spread" - and toward making sure infected patients were staying at home.
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The infamous "Social Monitoring" app which those who tested positive had to install, ceding access to swathes of personal data stored on their phones in the process.
9/ https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/04/01/surrender-everything
9/ https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/04/01/surrender-everything
It would also ping people demanding they submit a location-enabled selfie within 60 mins or face a fine.
That included multiple times in the middle of the night for some users.
10/ https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/21/russia-intrusive-tracking-app-wrongly-fines-muscovites
That included multiple times in the middle of the night for some users.
10/ https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/21/russia-intrusive-tracking-app-wrongly-fines-muscovites
You also could've been fined if your geolocation went awol for a few minutes - very possible in Moscow, given the prevalence of location-scrambling.
11/ https://meduza.io/en/news/2020/05/18/self-quarantined-moscow-professor-says-she-was-fined-for-failing-to-install-the-city-s-mobile-tracking-software
11/ https://meduza.io/en/news/2020/05/18/self-quarantined-moscow-professor-says-she-was-fined-for-failing-to-install-the-city-s-mobile-tracking-software
Not to mention what one NGO said was unprecedented levels of surveillance using the city's face recognition cameras and fears that the coronavirus data-snooping was here to stay.
12/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/17/russia-to-keep-mass-surveillance-after-coronavirus-activists-say-a70907
12/ https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/07/17/russia-to-keep-mass-surveillance-after-coronavirus-activists-say-a70907
So, Moscow's tech credentials weren't great as it declared victory over the pandemic in the summer.
A hated selfie-demanding data-collecting surveillance app, an abandoned QR-code system to get on the metro and face recognition on steroids. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-outbreak-is-major-test-for-russias-facial-recognition-network-a69736
A hated selfie-demanding data-collecting surveillance app, an abandoned QR-code system to get on the metro and face recognition on steroids. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-outbreak-is-major-test-for-russias-facial-recognition-network-a69736
Months later: enter, the second wave. Plans for the super advanced auto-notifying GPS locator contact tracing system are long forgotten.
There is basically no national contact tracing architecture in place.
There is basically no national contact tracing architecture in place.
Until: the triumphant return of the QR code.
Moscovites will now have to check-in to enter night clubs. If somebody later gets infected who was at the same club you were, you'll get a text and a recommendation to get tested. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/10/15/moscow-to-launch-coronavirus-check-in-system-for-bars-nightclubs-a71760
Moscovites will now have to check-in to enter night clubs. If somebody later gets infected who was at the same club you were, you'll get a text and a recommendation to get tested. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/10/15/moscow-to-launch-coronavirus-check-in-system-for-bars-nightclubs-a71760
1.1m checked-in using the system.
Alas, 2 weeks later, amid surging cases, Moscow rolls out an 11pm curfew. No more night clubs to check-in to. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/11/curfew-darkens-outlook-for-moscows-night-spots-a72010
Alas, 2 weeks later, amid surging cases, Moscow rolls out an 11pm curfew. No more night clubs to check-in to. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/11/curfew-darkens-outlook-for-moscows-night-spots-a72010
And so, as Russia's coronavirus cases hit two million, with 22,000 new infections every day, Russia finally appears to have succumbed.
No fancy GPS automatic notification system completely in control of the authorities.
Instead, the same bog standard bluetooth track and trace system which dozens of countries have already had in place for months. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/17/russia-develops-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-a72068
Instead, the same bog standard bluetooth track and trace system which dozens of countries have already had in place for months. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/17/russia-develops-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-a72068
Users will voluntarily download the app, voluntarily use it, voluntarily notify it if they test positive, and then it'll anonymously alert other app-users who were close to the infected person.
A final blow: Reportedly based on technology developed by Apple and Google.
A final blow: Reportedly based on technology developed by Apple and Google.
It's worth underlining that Russia is far from alone in struggling to develop a coronavirus contact tracing system.
Countries which have managed it are the exception. Those with tracking apps are struggling to get take-up or reach potential contacts https://time.com/5905772/covid-19-contact-tracing-apps/
Countries which have managed it are the exception. Those with tracking apps are struggling to get take-up or reach potential contacts https://time.com/5905772/covid-19-contact-tracing-apps/
The problem Russia now faces is:
So far into the pandemic, having already rolled out or talked up a number of covid-19 apps and tracking systems which proved flawed, annoying and/or were abandoned, how will they encourage sceptical Russians to download and use this latest one?
So far into the pandemic, having already rolled out or talked up a number of covid-19 apps and tracking systems which proved flawed, annoying and/or were abandoned, how will they encourage sceptical Russians to download and use this latest one?
