Vaccine Passport Applications: Can Big Tech Do Better Than Tracking Contacts?

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It could be from Big Tech shot to make a cup with pandemic solution tools after his failed contact attempt last year scanning applications, which used Bluetooth technology to alert people if they have been very close to someone who has tested positive for the virus. These products were affected by issues related to proximity measurement, maintaining data anonymity, notifications that were not activated, and declining adoption rates across states.

On paper, this last effort should be much simpler, but companies face a crowded app market and the potential for concern about the privacy of some Americans.

Samsung recently announced that Galaxy device users can upload the vaccine record from the CommonHealth app (created by the Commons Project Foundation, the same healthcare nonprofit that works with some airlines to get vaccination tests) and store it in your Samsung Pay digital wallet. Unlike some applications that do not check if hung vaccine cards are legitimate, users verify their identity and access their status from the pharmacy or healthcare provider they provided. his shot.

“If Big Tech has specific applications they will work with, that would go a long way in reducing the volume of application solutions that are currently flooding the market,” said Sam Gazeley, digital research analyst at ABI Research. “It would help to some extent eliminate the risk of fraudulent certification of forged documents coming into circulation.”

Some vaccine verification apps, such as New York’s NYC Safe app, have been criticized by some privacy experts for being a “disguised camera app,” which allows users to upload photos to their vaccine card. or anything – and leave it to employers to determine if it is real. (So ​​far, countless counterfeit vaccine cards have been sold in the dark net and on the U.S. border patrol has confiscated thousands of counterfeits.)

In addition to verifying the status of the vaccine, applications such as the CommonHealth application and the New York Excelsior Pass application developed by IBM provide a scannable QR code for entry to different companies. They do not show any personal information beyond whether that person was shot.

Some experts claim that companies such as Samsung, Google and Apple can play an important role in the public and private sectors that come together to create verifiable credentials.

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“Technology companies are helping to lead U.S. efforts on Covid-19’s verifiable digital credentials, but perhaps most importantly, having portable consumer digital health data stored in digital wallets,” said Donna Medeiros, principal research director of market research firm Gartner. “That means using mobile phones to share our data in a standardized way when, where and with whom we want.”

In June, Google announced that Android users will be able to store various test results and vaccine status from healthcare organizations, government agencies, and organizations directly on devices. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS 15 software that will arrive this fall can store verifiable vaccine records and test results in its Health app.
Other vaccine verification apps available in the Apple App Store are subject to a strict approval process and are only approved. of entities known as government organizations, health-focused NGOs, medical and educational institutions, and accredited companies on health issues. Earlier this year, it released an update on health card applications to outline privacy requirements. Developers can use Apple’s PassKit framework to make these apps available on the Apple Wallet.

Vaccine status applications have been adopted in advance in California, New York, and Louisiana as more people download their data and store it on the device, mainly due to local governments requiring vaccination tests to enter certain areas. It is also an attractive endeavor for smartphone manufacturers who do not have to manage the process themselves.

Gazeley said serving as a storage solution is less risky than creating location control software full of privacy issues.

Making a mark

Last year, longtime rivals Google and Apple announced it with big fanfare they would work together to help governments track the spread of Covid-19 using Bluetooth technology. It was also about to be a potential turning point in its long-term effort to achieve a greater foothold in the healthcare industry. (Samsung did not have a contact tracking initiative).
The Google and Apple apps were intended to anonymously monitor where people were traveling, with whom they had been very close, and alert them if possible. has been exposed to the virus. Ultimately, they were deficient, had privacy issues, and were not widely adopted.

Amy Loomis, IDC’s research director who closely follows future job trends, said Big Tech’s efforts to support vaccine health applications are innately better established for success.

“Language matters,” he said. “No one wants to be‘ tracked ’or tracked, but we show‘ proof of ’all the time – proof of employment with badge, proof of legal age with license.

“Although [Apple and Google’s] participation is limited to providing the certificate storage solution itself, many will associate it with the issuance of [the company] even if that’s not the case, “Gazeley said.” That way, you get more for them than the contacts tracking app tries. “

Challenges ahead

Not everyone is convinced that Big Tech will succeed. According to Albert Cahn, whose experiment uploading a picture of Mickey Mouse to the Covid Safe app in New York, as the vaccination test went viral earlier this month: Vaccine verification apps open a box of Pandora privacy issues and are susceptible to fake testing, which could provide a false sense of protection when introduced into an establishment that requires the vaccine. like a restaurant or a workplace.

“Technology companies promised us that exposure notification applications would stop the pandemic. They failed,” said Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Monitoring Project and a member of the School of Law. NYU. “Now, vaccine applications will fail us once again, and I’m afraid they will do lasting harm to public confidence in vaccines.”

Vaccine passport applications are about to be everywhere. It could get complicated

He said that the fact that some applications are easy to forge, not all citizens own a smartphone and that questions will persist about how user data is managed limit the success of the tools. The main fears of privacy, he said, is the question of whether medical or location data will be collected and stored and who will have access to that information.

The companies behind the many applications on the market have said they will not store data, but the perception could deter some. (The issue has already become politicized this year. For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the use of vaccine passports in the state in April, citing freedom and privacy issues).

The vaccination credentials initiative, which includes IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, Mayo Clinic, and the Commons Project, is playing a key role in developing U.S. standards and guidelines for digital health passes. Requires participating applications not to store data on a central server or group it, so the sender would not know a person’s location history.

Still, Cahn argues the money the states spent application development could be better used as financial incentives and as free time for the hesitant vaccine. His organization reported that the New York Excelsior app cost to develop about $ 27 million, more than ten times the original project budget. (The state told the New York Times that so far it had only spent $ 4.7 million and would only reach the full amount if the program was a success).

“Despite all these applications, the best vaccination test is still the laminated CDC card I have in my pocket,” he said.

Another important problem comes from the applications that each local or company decides to require for the vaccination test. Meanwhile, Samsung declined to share whether it will open its digital portfolio to applications beyond CommonHealth, but “without universal acceptance, the impact it will have on reducing [app] noise will remain limited, “Gazeley said.

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