When it comes to overcoming the coronavirus it is pretty clear how big a role technology plays. Whether it is the equipment in our hospitals or even the Zoom calls that are keeping everyone in touch, the innovations that we rely on are putting us in a much better position than if we were trying to combat a global pandemic even 10 or 20 years ago.

Part of the long-term effort sits in our own pockets in the form of our mobile phones. Contact tracing apps will rely on Bluetooth signals and if you are in close proximity to another person for a period of time then this will be recorded as an interaction. If a person later tests positive for the virus then they will have the option to inform people they have interacted with so that those people can then take appropriate measures.

This will be huge when it comes to protecting individuals and stopping the spread of the virus across society but such a system also raises important concerns. Data about where you have been and who you have seen is not the sort of thing most people would want to be made widely available and that brings us to the heart of this privacy issue.

Many European governments (including ours in the UK) want to centralise this information in order to react more effectively to outbreaks but this would represent an unprecedented attack on our civil liberties even for a period of national emergency. Meanwhile the proposal that is being developed by Apple and Google would retain all of the information on the user’s phone with no central server whatsoever.

Who will win this battle for our privacy? Well it’s not especially close.

You see your phone’s operating system only allows a Bluetooth signal to be broadcast when the app is running in the foreground. Want to check Instagram? The app stops working. Need to make a call? The app stops working. Lock your phone and put in your pocket? Yep, the app stops working.

Essentially anything NHSX (the digital arm of the NHS) builds is immediately rendered useless. The government has (somewhat ironically) made efforts in trying to coax Apple and Google into lowering their privacy standards but to no avail and, amidst a relatively unsuccessful trial on the Isle of Wight, it would be surprising if the UK didn’t now change tack.

The fight against the virus is important but so are our legal rights. One has a bearing on the other and it is only by striking the right balance that we will make it through this crisis.