Tracker, real names on app pushed by Legco 15

Users of the contact-tracing LeaveHomeSafe app should register real names, some legislators have suggested.

They also want a location-tracking function added to the app by the end of next month. That would match the mainland's health code system.

Michael Tien Puk-sun, Paul Tse Wai-chun, Junius Ho Kwan-yiu and newcomers Duncan Chiu, Lai Tung-kwok and Gary Zhang Xinyu are among 15 who sent a letter to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor asking her to launch real-name registrations for the app at the same time as the no jab, no entry vaccine bubble extends to restaurants and other premises on February 24.

They propose connecting with the digital identity verification function in the iAM Smart app and the SAR health code system while also collecting identity details, phone numbers and vaccination records from people who do not have access to the function.

The legislators further suggested allowing the LeaveHomeSafe app to upload automatically a user's record to an encrypted central data bank to be stored for around 30 days.

Authorities could use a color-coding system and ban people with yellow and red codes - typically close contacts and people who have been in high-risk areas - from entering premises.

For children and the elderly, the proposal is to allow them to get a personal printed QR code after they register at designated locations using identity documents and photos. Staff at premises would scan the code manually for tracking.

The ideas are similar to the health code system mainland authorities have adopted.

The system contains a tracing function and would notify users by displaying a red or yellow code if they have been infected with Covid or are considered a close contact. Those with red or yellow codes would be denied free movement.

Lam's administration has insisted it would not send users' data to a central server, citing opposition among people.

A spokesman for the Innovation and Technology Bureau told The Standard the administration has striven to combat Covid with IT solutions and would consider "all possible methods in accordance to the needs of fighting the pandemic."

Respiratory expert Leung Chi-chiu said authorities must consider how to collect data effectively if it decides to implement real-name registrations for the LeaveHomeSafe app.

"The current system used is not designed to upload a user's personal data to a central data server," he said, and a complete redesign of the system could be needed to enable the function.

Authorities also need to consider whether premises have the devices needed to upload data to the server and if the server can handle a large amount of data from over seven million Hongkongers, Leung added.

He said enabling tracking functions in the app would be difficult as Hong Kong lacks the means to conduct identity authentication of people such as through real-name registration of phones and facial recognition. Both have been adopted in the mainland.

pakhei.leung@singtaonewscorp.com