FOR months, we’ve been experiencing the very first global lockdown to combat Covid-19. One of health authorities’ key responsibilities is contact tracing, which consists of laborious processes including in-person interviews.

With the rising use of artificial intelligence, big data, and information and communications technology since 2012, along with the popularity of smartphones, at least 22 countries have employed mobile apps to automate the tracing process and identify people at risk of infection at the earliest possible stage. After all, epidemiological models do suggest that having an efficient tracing system helps control and slow a disease’s spread.

On the other hand, there are valid concerns that such apps amount to a high-tech distraction. For these apps to be effective, there must be a strong healthcare system already in place to be able to notify all those at risk and test them, and to implement the necessary containment measures. The underlying assumption is that a large proportion of the population is willing to participate in the plan, thus, a representative data collection is possible. However, do we really have a culture of public trust when it comes to data collection and analysis by the government?

Putrajaya has implemented a tracing app as part of its strategies against the coronavirus. MySejahtera is owned and administered by the Health Ministry, aided by the National Security Council and Mampu, or the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit. The ministry pledged that the data collected will be used only for the purpose of managing and mitigating the Covid-19 outbreak, and will not be shared with other parties.

Will MySejahtera really work? It has seen high traffic volume – more than 700,000 downloads in one minute following the government’s announcement of a RM50 e-wallet incentive for eligible Malaysians to encourage the app’s use. And, it is mandatory when riding public transport, reopening businesses, etc under the recovery movement-control order standard operating procedure.

The app provider’s bandwidth proved insufficient to handle the traffic volume, and MySejahtera ended up frequently crashing. User frustration is laid bare in the numerous reviews posted on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Improper planning and implementation are old norms that we’re still practising in the new normal.

That the app stores data on people’s movements in central servers immediately raises concerns about privacy invasion. To gain public trust, the authorities can say the data is encrypted and identifying information, masked. But hold on – if this is so, how can they reveal the ID? Bear in mind, MySejahtera collects sensitive details on infected people, from their locations to their e-hailing transactions and spending behaviours, among others. Also, the app is not fully automated, with human labour still required to conduct follow-up interviews. This puts its efficacy in question.

Ross Anderson, a security engineering professor at Cambridge University, listed several issues with regard to tracing apps, such as privacy invasion, potential false positives, ineffectiveness and the collected data being open to trolling. Let’s consider two scenarios.

First, “A” reported his health and personal data via MySejahtera on Monday. He was exposed to Covid-19 on the same day after taking 10 public transport rides, holding four meetings in his office as well as a client’s, and visiting two restaurants. He developed symptoms on Friday, and tested positive the next day. From Monday to Friday, “A” attended a string of meetings, dined at several eateries and continued to use public transport.

Assuming he reported his location each and every time, would the Health Ministry inform all those who were at the same places “A” was from Wednesday to Friday? Would the ministry offer these people testing and require them to be quarantined, based on tracing via the app? We can see that the app doesn’t keep us anonymous as claimed, because its very purpose is to track our movements. Therefore, the assurance that our identifying information is “masked” is merely window dressing.

In the second scenario, we have “B”, who commutes a lot and meets many people as demanded by his line of work. MySejahtera would probably rate him as high risk, and this could lead to discrimination against him, such as restaurants denying him service and public transport providers not letting him on board in order to protect their own businesses. “B” then becomes a victim of “false positive-hood”. When an app involves an element of compulsion, it tends to pose an adversarial threat, much like the case with digital immunity certification. Users will likely have a higher motivation to cheat. I’m curious whether the government has studied this thoroughly and educated the public enough about information access.

Last year, Malaysia saw the online leak of 19,922 medical-imaging records with patients’ full names, dates of birth and health exam dates. How much assurance can the authorities give that MySejahtera is 100% shielded from such a breach? With witch hunts and discrimination becoming an increasingly severe problem worldwide amid the Covid-19 pandemic, our country is far from immune. The government must be aware of the risks people face by using the app.

Recently, we’ve seen many seemingly healthy individuals, who got tested for the virus as part of the SOP under various circumstances, like coming home from abroad or upon resuming work, returning positive results. They serve as a good reminder that asymptomatic carriers are out there. So, how would a tracing app work to deter these cases?

Restarting economic activities and attaining a sense of normalcy once again are essential. But in the absence of a vaccine, the authorities should focus more on encouraging the public to practise good personal hygiene, as advocated by the Health Ministry all this while. More importantly, people should be told to quickly seek treatment if they develop symptoms over a longer period, say three to five days.

This kind of awareness and transparency is what we need instead of tracing apps, which might yield nothing more than a placebo effect. – June 15, 2020.

* Chong Kok Boon is a member of Agora Society. He is a self-declared Peter Pan who advocates science in forging a more democratic and humane society.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.