Ask HN: Can we not build a contact tracing app that respects privacy?

[plouc]

Every time the medias mention location-tracing apps, they say it's a threat to privacy and personal autonomy. I am not a security engineer, but my understanding is that it's entirely possible to build an application that's anonymous (see: https://ncase.me/contact-tracing/) Yet, medias don't relay that. Am I missing something?

[rofws]

Yes it's entirely possible to build an app that is anonymous.

What's missing is the legal framework to prioritise this anonymity (during emergencies like this pandemic), the political will (long shot) and the understanding the general population have about privacy in general.

The last point in also somewhat debatable, since people are scared currently. So, without having a certain level of knowledge about the technology and the implications of lack of privacy, they're more likely to 'barter' their privacy for security against getting infected.

[fjfaase]

To me it seems that the most important reason is that most medias are not interested in informing and/or educating the public, but in attracting readers so they are going to see the advertisements that generate their revenues. You will not see a media proclaim: the tracking our website does, is a greater danger to your privacy than the tracking apps.