Scientists warn of corona apps

Asian countries were first. Google and Apple are collaborating on a global standard, and most EU countries are now developing their own infection tracking apps. In Norway it is called Smittestopp and with the help of the mobile's Bluetooth and GPS it warns if you have had close contact with any app user who tested positive for covid-19. You also want to use the app to study the effects of various anti-infection measures.

- At an aggregated and anonymised level we can see patterns of movement and degree of contact in the population, explains Gun Peggy Knudsen, Deputy Director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

But some 60 researchers and experts are now warning in a call for the threats such apps can pose to human rights and freedoms.

How much private data will be shared? Will businesses and workplaces be able to require such an app to get in? When should you stop using the apps and how do you ensure that the data they collect is really erased?

There are some integrity aspects that one of the researchers in the call, Virginia Dignum, professor of AI and ethics at Umeå University, points out. She also warns that governments and authorities are putting too much hope into corona apps.

- British researchers say 60 percent is required. According to our modeling, up to 80-90 percent use may be required for them to be effective, she says.

In three weeks, every fifth Norwegian has started using Smittestopp. 20 percent usage is also what Singapore came up with after a month and a half. The world record seems to be Iceland's, with 40 percent of the population downloading their version of the infection tracking app.