911±¬ÁÏÍø

The (DP-3T) system developed by Dr Michael VealeÌý(Lecturer in Digital Rights and Regulation atÌý) as part of a 12 university international consortium uses Bluetooth technology to allow phones to give alerts to individuals who have been in recent contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, but in such a way that, through cryptography, personal data never leaves an individual's device.

All matching happens securely on individuals' phones, meaning that no central database of a country's social network, which could be hacked, misused, or built on to create an identity system, can be created. The DP-3T system is being officially deployed as the national approach in Switzerland, Austria, Estonia, Latvia and Germany, among others. Apple and Google have stated that DP-3T heavily inspired their own system, which is to be deployed in more countries still, and installed as functionality for national apps to use on every modern phone running iOS or Android.

The UK's Information Commissioner has also written an unsolicited, formal Opinion (‘’) using her powers under the Data Protection Act 2018 s 115(3)(b), which is complimentary around the data protection compliance of the DP-3T system, stating that it is 'aligned with the principles of data protection by design and by default'.

Dr Veale is also a co-author alongside a range of other legal academics of the related, draft which has been favourably referred to by the and also been the subject of coverage by the BBC (‘’).

Dr Veale appeared on BBC Radio 4’s (listen from 1:53:47) on Monday 4 May to discuss the system’s decentralised approach, in comparison to the NHS’ tracing app (which uses a centralised database). He also gave evidence to the Human Rights Committee on the human rights implications of the using the NHS app – such as its risks to privacy, and how a centralised databased may be more vulnerable to hacking. You now. Ìý

Other media appearancesÌý

Dr Veale has been interviewed about the project in media across the world, including:

• Reuters: ‘’
• BBC: ‘’; ‘’
• Wall Street Journal: ‘’
• WIRED: ‘’
• Fortune: ‘’

Watch Dr Veale talking about the system:

• Webinar for the Council of Europe: "
• On a panel for Al Jazeera: ‘
• Podcast for EurActiv: ‘’
• In conversation with Dr Jack Stilgoe (UCL STS) on The Received Wisdom Podcast: ‘’