Public invited to take a proper look inside Radar COVID app

THE Spanish Government will open the hood of Radar COVID this Wednesday, September 9, and will allow those who wish to peek inside and check how it works to do so.

Those interested will be able to discover what functions of the phone it uses, how it detects nearby contacts or verify that it does not store the personal data of its users or their location.

This action will follow the release of a special entry code and is considered a key process for the transparency of this tool.

Both Google and Apple, who provide the basis for the technology, and the European countries that have built their contagion tracking apps on it, have already released the code of their respective applications to allow external auditing. In the case of Spain, it will be the first time that the public administration has opened the code that uses a digital tool of this magnitude.

Given the great sensitivity of the information that these apps will handle and the importance of achieving great use by the population, transparency and publicity about the use they make of personal data have been vital from minute one of their developing.

With Radar COVID available for download for more than 70% of the Spanish population, the Government will finally release its code this Wednesday.

More than 200 academics made a request to the Government this Saturday, September 5, in an open letter that they should also publish “the history since the beginning of development, detailing the changes since the first version” of the app or a “detailed report of the application’s monitoring mechanisms and associated mechanisms for ensure privacy and compliance with data protection regulations”.

“Without an open procedure that enables the involvement of the entire community and the recipients of the app, it will not receive the confidence necessary for mass use,” they recalled.

Radar COVID is already integrated in the health systems of Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Valencian Community, Extremadura, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia and Navarra.

However, completing the technical integration does not mean that the app is fully operational in the community. Madrid – which has already completed the integration – and Catalonia – which will do so soon – have reported that they will carry out their own “pilot tests” with Radar COVID and will carry out a “progressive” implementation in their respective communities when these tests are completed.