Have you self-assessed today?
Aarogya Setu
#aarogyasetu
Aarogya Setu is an app (short for application), that the Govt. of India is making its citizens to download and use mandatorily. It is a contact-tracing app. It is supposed to tell you how close you are to any Covid19 positive patients.
But what is the mystery behind its performance? How can it magically identify who is positive and who is not?
In fact, the whole performance depends on self-assessment. You have to fill in the information whether you have come into contact with another Covid19 positive person, or whether you have travelled to any country outside or if you are a physician --- in short whether there is any high risk activity you have been engaged in recent past.
Once the information is stored, the bluetooth communication protocol exchanges information between two smart phones, who have Aarogya Setu app. That is why you are expected to keep the location and bluetooth on all the time, no matter whatever is the batter drain.
Smart phones, being so much personalized these days, are potential threats to privacy. Whenever you download any app, even innocuous ones, it asks you to give access to your contact list, photos and many other personal data. Every time you agree to these requests, you are breaching one small portion of the dam that guards your privacy. Any app like Aarogya Setu is always under scanner for breach of privacy.
Several other countries also use contact-tracing apps. The table below provides a comparison. (Source: The Hindu, May 19, 2020).
| Country | Voluntary | Limited | Data Destruction | Minimized | Transparent |
| China | N | N | N | N | N |
| Turkey | N | N | N | Y | N |
| India | N* | N | Y | Y | N |
| Mexico | Y | NA | N | N | N |
| Norway | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| Australia | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| U.K. | Y | N | NA | Y | Y |
| Germany | Y | NA | NA | Y | N |
| Austria | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Czech | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Iceland | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Israel | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Italy | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Singapore | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Cyprus | Y | NA | Y | Y | Y |
| Poland | Y | NA | Y | Y | Y |
| Switzerland | Y | Y | Y | Y | NA |
| Finland | Y | NA | NA | Y | Y |
Voluntary: Whether the use is by choice or mandatory.
Limited: Are there limitations on how the data get used?
Data destruction: Whether the data are deleted automatically after a certain amount of time.
Minimised: Whether only necessary information is collected.
Transparent: Whether the app is built on clear and publicly available policies and its design has an open source code.
India is among only three countries who have made this mandatory, at least for government employees. There is no limitation on how the data is going to be used, neither is there transparency as there is no clear policy nor the code is open source.
As law-abiding citizens we have to listen to our government. We have to download the app, if without it, we are not allowed inside an airport or visit govenrment offices. At the same time, we have to remain on alert and well-informed.
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