The single source of truth

So the UK covid app features the work of Faculty and Palantir, and is centralised; Germany, inexplicably beating us at pandemic control and football in recent years, has chosen a decentralised  operation, relying on software from Google and Apple.

Palantir's Foundry is the software running the database. NHSX leaders Matthew Gould, Dr Indra Joshi and Ming Tang have written about "The power of data in a pandemic".

On Palantir, they say:

"Palantir Technologies UK is providing the software, Palantir Foundry, that powers the front end data platform. Palantir Foundry, which has been primarily developed in the UK, enables disparate data to be integrated, cleaned, and harmonised in order to develop the single source of truth that will support decision-making. Foundry is built to protect data by design. A G-cloud data processing contract is in place. Palantir is a data processor, not a data controller, and cannot pass on or use the data for any wider purpose without the permission of NHS England"

Not at all scary.

Dr Indra Joshi is guardian of NHS apps, and the covid app in use on the Isle of Wight is currently in Beta. Will she sign it off ?  Her twitter motto: "Break the silos and let's get s*** done".

It is completely unclear whether or not the Government intends to use this app 'automatically'. When you self-report convincing (enough for AI) Covid symptoms, does the database automatically alert phones that have been within 6 foot (what happened to the British 2 metres ?) for a period of 15 minutes; or will a phone tracer interpret that data ?  What happens when, like Piers Morgan, you and your doctor believe wrongly you have symptoms; presumably if he'd had the app, there'd have been no GMB on Monday....  Will the phone tracer see all contacts, or just those that meet distance and time criteria ?  What happens when someone is on a bus, train, plane or tube for fifteen minutes ?  What happens when there just one contact, possibly a carer, who, by triangulation, can then be identified by both parties ?  Has anyone got copies of the training scripts being given to these novice tracers ?  How do you stop deliberate attacks on organisations, with smartphones perhaps left in buildings/ factories/ etc etc ?