FILE – In this undated photo, provided by NY Governor’s Press Office on Saturday March 27, 2021, is the new “Excelsior Pass” app, a digital pass that people can download to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. Vaccine passports being developed to verify COVID-19 immunization status and allow inoculated people to more freely travel, shop and dine have become the latest flash point in America’s perpetual political wars, with Republicans portraying them as a heavy-handed intrusion into personal freedom and private health choices. (NY Governor’s Press Office via AP, File)
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By Samantha Murphy Kelly | CNN Business
As some US cities start requiring proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, events and workplaces, smartphone makers such as Apple, Samsung and Google are rolling out ways to make it easy for users to show their Covid-19 vaccine status with just a tap. It could be Big Tech’s shot at making a dent with pandemic solution tools following its failed attempt last year at contact tracing apps, which used Bluetooth technology to alert people if they’ve been in close proximity with someone who tested positive for the virus. Those products were plagued by issues around measuring proximity while keeping data anonymous, notifications that failed to trigger and slow adoption rates among states. On paper, this latest effort should be much simpler, but the companies face a crowded app market and the potential for privacy concerns among some Americans. Samsung recently announced Galaxy device users can load their vaccination record from the CommonHealth app — created by Commons Project Foundation, the same healthcare nonprofit working with some airlines for proof of vaccination — and store it in the Samsung Pay digital wallet. Unlike some apps that don’t check if uploaded vaccine cards are legit, users verify their identity and gain access to their status from the pharmacy or healthcare provider that provided their shot. “If Big Tech has specific apps they will work with, then this would go a long way to cut down on the volume of app solutions that are currently flooding the market,” said Sam Gazeley, digital research analyst at ABI Research. “It would help to a degree by removing the risk of fraudulent certification from forged documents entering circulation.”
Some vaccine verification apps, such as New York City’s NYC Safe app, have faced criticism from some privacy experts for being a “dressed-up camera app,” allowing users to upload photos of their vaccine card — or of anything — and leaving the onus on business owners to determine if it’s real. (To date, countless counterfeit vaccine cards have been sold on the dark web and US border patrol has seized thousands of fakes.) In addition to verifying vaccine status, apps such as the CommonHealth app and the New York Excelsior Pass app developed by IBM provide a scannable QR code for entry at different businesses. They display no personal information beyond whether that person received a shot. Some experts say companies such as Samsung, Google and Apple may play a significant role in the private and public sectors coming together to create verifiable credentials. “Technology companies are helping lead the way in leapfrogging US efforts in verifiable digital Covid-19 credentials, but perhaps more importantly having portable digital consumer health data stored in digital wallets,” said Donna Medeiros, senior research director at market research firm Gartner. “This means using mobile phones to share our data in a standardized manner when, where and with whom we want.”
In June, Google announced Android users will be able to store various test results and vaccine status from healthcare organizations, government agencies and organizations directly on devices. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS 15 software coming this fall can store verifiable vaccine records and test results in its Health app. Apple told CNN Business other vaccine verification apps available in the App Store undergo a strict approval process and that it only approves those from known entities such as government organizations, health-focused NGOs, medical and educational institutions, and companies credentialed in health issues. Earlier this year, it published an update around health pass apps to outline privacy requirements. Developers can use Apple’s PassKit framework to make those apps available on Apple Wallet. Vaccine status apps have seen early adoption in California, New York and Louisiana as more people download their data and store it on their device, due largely to local governments requiring proof of vaccination to enter certain areas. It’s also an appealing effort for smartphone makers that don’t have to manage the process themselves. Gazeley said serving as a storage solution is less risky than creating location-monitoring softtware rife with privacy concerns. Making a mark
Last year, longtime rivals Google and Apple announced to great fanfare that they would work together to help governments track the spread of the Covid-19 using Bluetooth technology. It was also poised to be a potential tipping point in their longtime effort to gain a bigger foothold in the health care industry. (Samsung did not have a contact tracing initiative). Google and Apple’s apps intended to anonymously monitor where people were traveling, who they’d been in close proximity with and alert them if they’ve possibly been exposed to the virus. Ultimately, they were buggy , presented privacy concerns and not widely adopted. Amy Loomis, research director at IDC who closely follows future of work trends, said Big Tech’s efforts to support vaccine health pass apps are innately better set up for success. “Language matters,” she said. “No one wants to be ‘traced’ or tracked but we show ‘proof of’ all the time — proof of employment with a badge, proof of legal age with license. “Even if [Apple and Google’s] involvement is limited to just providing the storage solution for the certificate itself, many will associate it with being issued by [the company] even if this is not the case,” Gazeley said. “So in this manner, it achieves more for them than the contact tracing app attempts.”
Challenges ahead
Not everyone is convinced Big Tech will succeed. According to Albert Cahn — whose experiment uploading a picture of Mickey Mouse to the NYC Covid Safe app as proof of vaccination went viral earlier this month — vaccine verification apps open up a Pandora’s box of privacy concerns and are susceptible to counterfeit proof, which could provide a false sense of protection when entering a vaccine-required establishment like a restaurant or workplace. “The tech companies promised us that exposure notification apps would stop the pandemic. They failed,” said Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and a fellow at the NYU School of Law. “Now, the vaccine apps will fail us once again, and I fear they will do lasting harm to public trust in the vaccines.”
He said the fact that some apps are easy to forge, not every citizen owns a smartphone and persisting questions around how user data is handled will limit the success of the tools. Chief among the privacy fears, he said, is the question of whether location or medical data will be collected and stored and who will have access to that information. The companies behind the many apps on the market have said they will not store data, but the perception could nonetheless dissuade some. (The issue has already been politicized this year. For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the use of vaccine passports in the state in April, citing freedom and privacy concerns.) The Vaccination Credential Initiative — which includes IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, Mayo Clinic and the Commons Project — is playing a key role in developing US standards and guidelines for digital health passes. It requires participating apps to not save data on a central server or be aggregated, so an issuer wouldn’t know a person’s location history. Still, Cahn argues the money the states spent on developing apps could be better used as financial incentives and paid time off for the vaccine hesitant. His organization reported New York’s Excelsior app cost nearly $27 million to develop — more than 10 times the project’s original budget. (The state told The New York Times it had only spent $4.7 million to date and would only reach the full amount if the program was a success.) “Despite all of these apps, the best proof of vaccination is still the laminated CDC card I carry in my pocket,” he said. Another major issue stems from what apps each venue or business decides to require for vaccination proof. Meanwhile, Samsung declined to share if it’ll open its digital wallet up to apps beyond CommonHealth but “without universal acceptance, the impact it will have on cutting down on the [app] noise will remain limited,” Gazeley said. The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. Morning Report in your inbox!

Big Tech failed with contact tracing. Can it do better with vaccine passport apps?

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business
As some US cities start requiring proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, events and workplaces, smartphone makers such as Apple, Samsung and Google are rolling out ways to make it easy for users to show their Covid-19 vaccine status with just a tap. It could be Big Tech’s shot at making a dent with pandemic solution tools following its failed attempt last year at contact tracing apps, which used Bluetooth technology to alert people if they’ve been in close proximity with someone who tested positive for the virus. Those products were plagued by issues around measuring proximity while keeping data anonymous, notifications that failed to trigger and slow adoption rates among states. On paper, this latest effort should be much simpler, but the companies face a crowded app market and the potential for privacy concerns among some Americans. Samsung recently announced Galaxy device users can load their vaccination record from the CommonHealth app — created by Commons Project Foundation, the same healthcare nonprofit working with some airlines for proof of vaccination — and store it in the Samsung Pay digital wallet. Unlike some apps that don’t check if uploaded vaccine cards are legit, users verify their identity and gain access to their status from the pharmacy or healthcare provider that provided their shot. “If Big Tech has specific apps they will work with, then this would go a long way to cut down on the volume of app solutions that are currently flooding the market,” said Sam Gazeley, digital research analyst at ABI Research. “It would help to a degree by removing the risk of fraudulent certification from forged documents entering circulation.”
Some vaccine verification apps, such as New York City’s NYC Safe app, have faced criticism from some privacy experts for being a “dressed-up camera app,” allowing users to upload photos of their vaccine card — or of anything — and leaving the onus on business owners to determine if it’s real. (To date, countless counterfeit vaccine cards have been sold on the dark web and US border patrol has seized thousands of fakes.) In addition to verifying vaccine status, apps such as the CommonHealth app and the New York Excelsior Pass app developed by IBM provide a scannable QR code for entry at different businesses. They display no personal information beyond whether that person received a shot. Some experts say companies such as Samsung, Google and Apple may play a significant role in the private and public sectors coming together to create verifiable credentials. “Technology companies are helping lead the way in leapfrogging US efforts in verifiable digital Covid-19 credentials, but perhaps more importantly having portable digital consumer health data stored in digital wallets,” said Donna Medeiros, senior research director at market research firm Gartner. “This means using mobile phones to share our data in a standardized manner when, where and with whom we want.”
In June, Google announced Android users will be able to store various test results and vaccine status from healthcare organizations, government agencies and organizations directly on devices. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS 15 software coming this fall can store verifiable vaccine records and test results in its Health app. Apple told CNN Business other vaccine verification apps available in the App Store undergo a strict approval process and that it only approves those from known entities such as government organizations, health-focused NGOs, medical and educational institutions, and companies credentialed in health issues. Earlier this year, it published an update around health pass apps to outline privacy requirements. Developers can use Apple’s PassKit framework to make those apps available on Apple Wallet. Vaccine status apps have seen early adoption in California, New York and Louisiana as more people download their data and store it on their device, due largely to local governments requiring proof of vaccination to enter certain areas. It’s also an appealing effort for smartphone makers that don’t have to manage the process themselves. Gazeley said serving as a storage solution is less risky than creating location-monitoring softtware rife with privacy concerns. Making a mark
Last year, longtime rivals Google and Apple announced to great fanfare that they would work together to help governments track the spread of the Covid-19 using Bluetooth technology. It was also poised to be a potential tipping point in their longtime effort to gain a bigger foothold in the health care industry. (Samsung did not have a contact tracing initiative). Google and Apple’s apps intended to anonymously monitor where people were traveling, who they’d been in close proximity with and alert them if they’ve possibly been exposed to the virus. Ultimately, they were buggy , presented privacy concerns and not widely adopted. Amy Loomis, research director at IDC who closely follows future of work trends, said Big Tech’s efforts to support vaccine health pass apps are innately better set up for success. “Language matters,” she said. “No one wants to be ‘traced’ or tracked but we show ‘proof of’ all the time — proof of employment with a badge, proof of legal age with license. “Even if [Apple and Google’s] involvement is limited to just providing the storage solution for the certificate itself, many will associate it with being issued by [the company] even if this is not the case,” Gazeley said. “So in this manner, it achieves more for them than the contact tracing app attempts.”
Challenges ahead
Not everyone is convinced Big Tech will succeed. According to Albert Cahn — whose experiment uploading a picture of Mickey Mouse to the NYC Covid Safe app as proof of vaccination went viral earlier this month — vaccine verification apps open up a Pandora’s box of privacy concerns and are susceptible to counterfeit proof, which could provide a false sense of protection when entering a vaccine-required establishment like a restaurant or workplace. “The tech companies promised us that exposure notification apps would stop the pandemic. They failed,” said Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and a fellow at the NYU School of Law. “Now, the vaccine apps will fail us once again, and I fear they will do lasting harm to public trust in the vaccines.”
He said the fact that some apps are easy to forge, not every citizen owns a smartphone and persisting questions around how user data is handled will limit the success of the tools. Chief among the privacy fears, he said, is the question of whether location or medical data will be collected and stored and who will have access to that information. The companies behind the many apps on the market have said they will not store data, but the perception could nonetheless dissuade some. (The issue has already been politicized this year. For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned the use of vaccine passports in the state in April, citing freedom and privacy concerns.) The Vaccination Credential Initiative — which includes IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, Mayo Clinic and the Commons Project — is playing a key role in developing US standards and guidelines for digital health passes. It requires participating apps to not save data on a central server or be aggregated, so an issuer wouldn’t know a person’s location history. Still, Cahn argues the money the states spent on developing apps could be better used as financial incentives and paid time off for the vaccine hesitant. His organization reported New York’s Excelsior app cost nearly $27 million to develop — more than 10 times the project’s original budget. (The state told The New York Times it had only spent $4.7 million to date and would only reach the full amount if the program was a success.) “Despite all of these apps, the best proof of vaccination is still the laminated CDC card I carry in my pocket,” he said. Another major issue stems from what apps each venue or business decides to require for vaccination proof. Meanwhile, Samsung declined to share if it’ll open its digital wallet up to apps beyond CommonHealth but “without universal acceptance, the impact it will have on cutting down on the [app] noise will remain limited,” Gazeley said. The-CNN-Wire

“If Big Tech has specific apps they will work with, then this would go a long way to cut down on the volume of app solutions that are currently flooding the market,” said Sam Gazeley, digital research analyst at ABI Research. “It would help to a degree by removing the risk of fraudulent certification from forged documents entering circulation.”
Some vaccine verification apps, such as New York City’s NYC Safe app, have faced  criticism  from some privacy experts for being a “dressed-up camera app,” allowing users to upload photos of their vaccine card —  or of anything  — and leaving the onus on business owners to determine if it’s real. (To date, countless  counterfeit vaccine cards  have been sold on the dark web and US border patrol has  seized  thousands of fakes.) In addition to verifying vaccine status, apps such as the CommonHealth app and the New York Excelsior Pass app developed by IBM provide a scannable QR code for entry at different businesses. They display no personal information beyond whether that person received a shot. Some experts say companies such as Samsung, Google and Apple may play a significant role in the private and public sectors coming together to create verifiable credentials. “Technology companies are helping lead the way in leapfrogging US efforts in verifiable digital Covid-19 credentials, but perhaps more importantly having portable digital consumer health data stored in digital wallets,” said Donna Medeiros, senior research director at market research firm Gartner. “This means using mobile phones to share our data in a standardized manner when, where and with whom we want.”
In June, Google  announced  Android users will be able to store various test results and vaccine status from healthcare organizations, government agencies and organizations directly on devices. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS 15 software coming this fall can  store verifiable vaccine records and test results  in its Health app. Apple told CNN Business other vaccine verification apps available in the App Store undergo a strict approval process and that it only approves those from known entities such as government organizations, health-focused NGOs, medical and educational institutions, and companies credentialed in health issues. Earlier this year, it  published an update  around health pass apps to outline privacy requirements. Developers can use Apple’s PassKit framework to make those apps available on Apple Wallet. Vaccine status apps have seen early adoption in California, New York and Louisiana as more people download their data and store it on their device, due largely to local governments requiring proof of vaccination to enter certain areas. It’s also an appealing effort for smartphone makers that don’t have to manage the process themselves. Gazeley said serving as a storage solution is less risky than creating location-monitoring softtware rife with privacy concerns. Making a mark
Last year, longtime rivals Google and Apple  announced  to great fanfare that they would work together to help governments track the spread of the Covid-19 using Bluetooth technology. It was also poised to be a potential tipping point in their longtime effort to gain a bigger foothold in the health care industry. (Samsung did not have a contact tracing initiative). Google and Apple’s apps intended to anonymously monitor where people were traveling, who they’d been in close proximity with and alert them if they’ve possibly been exposed to the virus. Ultimately, they were  buggy , presented privacy concerns and not widely adopted. Amy Loomis, research director at IDC who closely follows future of work trends, said Big Tech’s efforts to support vaccine health pass apps are innately better set up for success. “Language matters,” she said. “No one wants to be ‘traced’ or tracked but we show ‘proof of’ all the time — proof of employment with a badge, proof of legal age with license. “Even if [Apple and Google’s] involvement is limited to just providing the storage solution for the certificate itself, many will associate it with being issued by [the company] even if this is not the case,” Gazeley said. “So in this manner, it achieves more for them than the contact tracing app attempts.”
Challenges ahead
Not everyone is convinced Big Tech will succeed. According to Albert Cahn — whose experiment  uploading a picture of Mickey Mouse  to the NYC Covid Safe app as proof of vaccination went viral earlier this month — vaccine verification apps open up a Pandora’s box of privacy concerns and are susceptible to counterfeit proof, which could provide a false sense of protection when entering a vaccine-required establishment like a restaurant or workplace. “The tech companies promised us that exposure notification apps would stop the pandemic. They failed,” said Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and a fellow at the NYU School of Law. “Now, the vaccine apps will fail us once again, and I fear they will do lasting harm to public trust in the vaccines.”
He said the fact that some apps are easy to forge, not every citizen owns a smartphone and persisting questions around how user data is handled will limit the success of the tools. Chief among the privacy fears, he said, is the question of whether location or medical data will be collected and stored and who will have access to that information. The companies behind the many apps on the market have said they will not store data, but the perception could nonetheless dissuade some. (The issue has already been politicized this year. For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  banned the use of vaccine passports  in the state in April, citing freedom and privacy concerns.) The Vaccination Credential Initiative — which includes IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, Mayo Clinic and the Commons Project — is playing a key role in developing US standards and guidelines for digital health passes. It requires participating apps to not save data on a central server or be aggregated, so an issuer wouldn’t know a person’s location history. Still, Cahn argues the money the states spent on developing apps could be better used as financial incentives and paid time off for the vaccine hesitant. His organization  reported  New York’s Excelsior app cost nearly $27 million to develop — more than 10 times the project’s original budget. (The state  told  The New York Times it had only spent $4.7 million to date and would only reach the full amount if the program was a success.) “Despite all of these apps, the best proof of vaccination is still the laminated CDC card I carry in my pocket,” he said. Another major issue stems from what apps each venue or business decides to require for vaccination proof. Meanwhile, Samsung declined to share if it’ll open its digital wallet up to apps beyond CommonHealth but “without universal acceptance, the impact it will have on cutting down on the [app] noise will remain limited,” Gazeley said. The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Vaccine passport apps: Can Big Tech make them effective after missing on contact tracing?

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According to analyst firm ABI Research, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the worldwide shipments of e-passports to drop from 192 million in 2019 to 116 million in 2020. The sharp decline in issuance levels, a year-on-year (YoY) decrease of -39%, has been attributed to border closures, severe restrictions on international travel, and shutdowns for credential enrolment and personalization centers. “Not surprisingly, of all the credential types, the e-passport market has been the most significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Sam Gazeley, digital security analyst at ABI Research. “The e-passport shipment levels in passport-heavy countries such as the United States and China declined by over 40% Year on Year (YoY). However, it is also important to note that smart national ID programs around the world have experienced significant postponements. The anticipated Philippine, Kenyan, and Nigerian projects, for example, are now not expected to begin until late 2021 or early 2022.”
Smart driver’s license shipments fell to 56 million units in 2020, down from 57 million units in 2019, driven mainly by Covid-19 induced project delays or postponements. “Brazil will see the rollout of mobile driver’s licenses in 2022, but this will remain a companion to the physical credential. e-ID issuance showed a YoY decline of -11.6% from 2019 to 2020, falling to 275 million units. Projects that have already begun issuance, such as those in Turkey, Italy, and Bangladesh, will continue to issue, but at reduced volumes,” Gazeley explained. YoY growth for e-passport shipments stands at a considerable decline of -39.8% between 2019 and 2020, falling to 116.2 million units. ABI Research said it believes the e-passport market will not recover to pre-Covid levels until 2024/2025 for most regions. As countries continue to enter and exit lockdowns and experience disruption to everyday life, the passport market has seen a sharp downturn as international travel opportunities remain largely reduced and inconsistent. From a more granular perspective, the effect of Covid-19 on the global passport market has been twofold. “First, significant travel restrictions and closures of borders have limited the use cases of the passport to an in-country form of identification. For countries that already use another credential — such as a national ID and driver’s license — as their primary ID format, the passport is struggling to find traction especially as it relates to replacement rates owing to a high end-user cost. Second, those citizens who have elected to renew their passports throughout 2020 met significant delays in the credential issuance due to closures of enrollment and personalization centers,” Gazeley said. To reduce levels of contact and enable social distancing, many governments have sought to limit or close nonessential offices and centers, and in some instances, this included departments that contain credential personalization. “As such, passport renewals will experience a backlog because personalization centers will be issuing pre-requested passports before issuing newer replacements once lockdowns begin to fully lift,” said Gazeley. Facebook Comments Box

Global e-passport market won’t reach pre-Covid levels until 2024: report

Huge logistics park could lead to 1,000 jobs
Warehouse park plans could be approved next week, despite local opposition
03:00, 7 JAN 2021
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Plans for a new logistics park that could create 1,000 jobs could be approved next week, despite local opposition. Gazeley, the developer behind Magna Park, in Lutterworth, wants to build on the former UK Coal Lounge Coal Preparation and Disposal Point, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, on the other side of Leicestershire. North West Leicestershire District Council will discuss the £30 million G Park scheme Wednesday, January 13, which has attracted almost 40 objections. Gazeley says redeveloping the 68-acre site, off Corkscrew Lane, will create between 880 and 990 full-time jobs, as well as up to 510 more positions indirectly. Planning officers at the district council have recommended councillors on the development control committee approve the scheme. The plan includes an agreement that would see Gazeley pay more than £750,000 to upgrade nearby roads. Among the chief objectors is the Ashby Civic Society, which has said the scheme would “swallow up” more fields in open countryside, replacing them with visually intrusive six-storey-high warehouses. In a letter of objection, the society said: “There is no economic sense in this project. The jobs provided by this facility would not go to employees in the local area. “And there are many large distribution centres within eight miles of Ashby offering over 10,000 jobs. “Why, then, proceed with this monstrous, ugly building if there is no chance of locals filling the vacancies?”
A Gazeley spokesman said: “The proposed development is in a location close to major road networks and therefore is easily accessed. “The proposal will facilitate a significant new commercial investment and the creation of new jobs which will have a major benefits for the local economy. “It reflects a commitment to bring forward new investment opportunities to a priority area and provide much needed jobs in the wider area and thus inject growth into the local economy.”
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Gazeley is a developer, investor and manager of European logistics warehouses and distribution parks with a 17 million square foot portfolio concentrated in the strategic logistics markets of the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

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Global Logistic Properties

Date	10/1/2017
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Valuation	$99M
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