We, the undersigned, call on the Government of Australia to be open and transparent regarding its COVID-19 tracing software application, with an independent review process open to all in the international and Australian community.

If the goal in releasing the COVID-19 tracing app is to have many people download and use it, then the app must also have the confidence of the public that it is not unduly breaching their privacy.

It is possible to offer the public both privacy and successful COVID-19 contact tracing.

The Australian Government has, to date, only had the software reviewed in a secretive and closed process by a small number of hand-picked agencies and entities. The government has already had the basis for its planned app for more than a month. During this time, it has kept its own design and software code a secret. There is no need for secrecy here: this is not a commercial app. Secrecy only helps the virus.

Secrecy in the time of COVID-19 is not a recipe for public trust. Trust requires transparency.

We call on the Government to:

1. Openly publish all source code, design specifications and testing results to the public *before* they release any tracing app or ask Australians to install on it their phones and devices
2. Give the international community of technical experts at universities and in industry at least 5 full days to openly examine the software code and documentation for the privacy and security risks to the public.
3. Adopt the recommendations of the best privacy practice from this open community of experts who serve the public’s interest with independence and integrity
4. Only ask people to download an app which provides the highest level of privacy and security protection

If you are an academic or industry researcher and would like to sign on please click below:

(Alternatively, email: covidapp@opentransparent.org or direct message @covid_open on Twitter)

Signed (in alphabetical order):

1. Dr Roba Abbas
2. A/Prof Greg Adamson
3. Mr Matthew Ames
4. Mr Barry Anderson
5. Dr Bruce Baer Arnold
6. Dr Hassan Jameel Asghar
7. Mr Milton Baar
8. Professor Tim Baldwin
9. Prof Lyria Bennett Moses
10. Dr Caitlin Bentley
11. Mr Adrian Blake
12. A/Prof Mark Burdon
13. Dr. Daniel Capurro
14. Prof Wendy Chapman
15. Dr Marc Cheong
16. Dr Deborah Cleland
17. Dr Damian Clifford
18. Dr Simon Coghlan
19. Dr Chris Culnane
20. Dr Angela Daley
21. Dr Heather Dalton
22. A/Professor Theresa Dirndorfer Anderson
23. Dr Suelette Dreyfus
24. Mr David Eccles
25. Mr Paul Esson
26. Dr Farhad Farokhi
27. Dr Nancy Mauro-Flude
28. Mr George Fong
29. Prof Marcus Foth
30. Dr Robbie Fordyce
31. Aimee Maree Forsstrom
32. A/Prof Kate Galloway
33. Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen
34. Ms Sae Ra Germaine on behalf of the board of Linux Australia, Inc.
35. A/Prof Rebecca Giblin
36. Dr Steve Glass
37. Dr Jake Goldenfein
38. Df Piers Gooding
39. Prof Graham Greenleaf
40. Mr David Hook
41. Dr Muhammad Ikram
42. Dr Neela Janakiramanan
43. Dr Simon Jeaffreson
44. Dr Suneel Jethani
45. Mr Joseph Jitnah
46. Dr Sarah Joseph
47. Prof Dali Kaafar
48. Dr Katherine Kemp
49. Prof Andrew Kenyon
50. Dr Les Kitchen
51. Prof Louis de Koker
52. Dr Dan Kortschak
53. Dr Terja Lange
54. Prof Seth Lazar
55. Ms Kobi Leins
56. Mr Arjen Lentz
57. Dr. Nir Lipovetzky
58. Dr Monique Mann
59. Dr Nancy Mauro-Flude
60. Ms Michelle Meares
61. Prof Katina Michael
62. Dr. Charlynn Miller
63. A/Prof Tim Miller
64. Dr Felicity Millman
65. A/Prof Peta Mitchell
66. Mr Angus Murray
67. Dr Toby Murray
68. Kelsie Nabben
69. Dr Eduardo Araujo Oliveira
70. Ms Lizzie O’Shea
71. Dr Tamsin Phillipa Paige
72. Dr James Parker
73. Prof Jeannie Paterson
74. Mr Laurie Patton
75. Dr Manuel Parra-Royón
76. Dr Liam Pomfret
77. Barbara Reed
78. Prof Pompeu Casanovas Romeu
79. A/Prof Ben Rubinstein
80. Dr Peter Schachte
81. Prof Lesley Seebeck
82. Dr Amin Sakzad
83. Laura Summers
84. Prof Melanie Swalwell
85. A/Prof Mark Taylor
86. A/Prof Vanessa Teague
87. Catherine Thompson
88. Dr Gil Tidhar
89. Dr Martin Tomko
90. David Vaile
91. Professor Maggie Walter
92. Mr Nigel Waters
93. Prof David Watts
94. Prof Kimberlee Weatherall
95. Emma Wise
96. Dr Niels Wouters
97. Ms Asher Wolf
98. Marcus Wigan
99. Dr Yuval Yarom