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The promise and potential pitfalls of contact-tracing apps

As contact tracing apps roll out we ask if they will be a way out of coronavirus lockdown.

As contact tracing apps roll out we ask if they will be a way out of coronavirus lockdown. A trial of the UK's contact tracing app is being carried out on the Isle of Wight, and we find out from residents there how they feel about it. Such apps have led some to express concerns about privacy, and we discuss the issue with Lilian Edwards, professor of law, innovation and society at Newcastle University in the UK, who sits on the ethics advisory board for NHSX, which is developing the UK's app. We get an alternative perspective on the issue from Tom Chivers of Pro Privacy. And we hear from Milo Hsieh, student at the American University in Taiwan, how in that country, which was a contact tracing app pioneer, opting into the service was not really optional.

Also in the programme, controversy in Sri Lanka where the government has asked its employees to contribute their May monthly salary to help bail it out in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plus, we look at the economic costs to football clubs of the coronavirus pandemic, with Mark Palios, who owns Division 4 Tranmere Rovers in the UK.

(Picture: Australia's contact tracing app on a phone. Picture credit: Getty Images.)

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27 minutes

Last on

Thu 7 May 2020 21:32GMT

Broadcast

  • Thu 7 May 2020 21:32GMT