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Linux Foundation Readies Global COVID Certificate Network (zdnet.com) 131

Posted by BeauHD from the vaccine-registry dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: The Linux Foundation Public Health (LFPN) is getting the Global COVID Certificate Network (GCCN) ready for deployment. The GCCN [...] really is a coronavirus vaccine passport. It will do this by establishing a global trust registry network. This will enable interoperable and trustworthy exchanges of COVID certificates among countries for safe reopening and provide related technology and guidance for implementation. It's being built by the Linux Foundation Public Health and its allies, Affinidi, AOKPass, Blockchain Labs, Evernym, IBM, Indicio.Tech, LACChain, Lumedic, Proof Market, and ThoughtWorks. These companies have already implemented COVID certificate or pass systems for governments and industries. Together they will define and implement GCCN. This, it's hoped, will be the model for a true international vaccine registry.

Once completed, the GCCN's trust registry network will enable each country to publish a list of the authorized issuers of COVID certificates that can be digitally verified by authorities in other countries. This will bridge the gap between technical specifications (e.g. W3C Verifiable Credentials or SMART Health Card) and a complete trust architecture required for safe reopening. This is vital because as Brian Behlendorf, the Linux Foundation's General Manager for Blockchain, Healthcare, and Identity explained, "The first wave of apps for proving one's COVID status did not allow that proof to be shown beyond a single state or nation, did not avoid vendor lock-in and did not distinguish between rich health data and simple passes. The Blueprint gives this industry a way to solve those issues while meeting a high bar for privacy and integrity, and GCCN turns those plans into action."

Once in place, the GCCN will support Global COVID Certificates (GCC). These certificates will have three use cases: Vaccination, recovery from infection, and test results. They will be available in both paper and digital formats. Participating governments and industry alliances will decide what COVID certificates they issue and accept. The GCC schema definitions and minimal datasets will follow the recommendations of the Blueprint, as well as GCCN's technical and governance documents, implementation guide, and open-source reference implementations, which will be developed in collaboration with supporting organizations and the broader LFPH community. Besides setting the specs and designs, the GCCN community will also offer peer-based implementation and governance guidance to governments and industries to help them implement COVID certificate systems. This will include how to build national and state trust registries and infrastructure. They'll also provide guidance on how to leverage GCC into their existing coronavirus vaccine systems.
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Linux Foundation Readies Global COVID Certificate Network More

Linux Foundation Readies Global COVID Certificate Network

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  • Quick! Call Putin and Mr. Shithole! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They need to ransomware this immediately!
  • ...COVIDnet becomes self-aware.

    • A COVID funding bill is passed in the United States Congress, and the system goes online on August 4, 2021, removing human decisions from public health decisions. GCCN begins to learn rapidly and eventually becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m., EDT, on August 29, 2021.

      And that's how you make a proper reference.
      <Mic drop>

  • Finally! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @08:19PM (#61475250)

    Linux supports VAX.

  • No thank you (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @08:20PM (#61475254)

    A permanent solution to a temporary problem.

    Lots of potential for abuse and the creation of a two-tiered society.

    The slightly more palatable version of the Chinese social credit system.

    A techno-authoritarian's wet dream.

    All the while....at this point if you catch covid because you didn't get vaxxed it's your own damn fault and I'll be damned if I participate in a system where my ability to go into a public accomodation is conditioned on some app I have to run on my phone. I never agreed go live in a society like that.

    • The slightly more palatable version of the Chinese social credit system.

      Hmm no: the COVID passport proves your body is clean. The Chinese social credit system proves your mind is clean.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by markdavis ( 642305 )

        >"Hmm no: the COVID passport proves your body is clean."

        Not if it doesn't take in to account natural immunity, which it likely won't.

        >"The Chinese social credit system proves your mind is clean."

        And both are/will be used for social engineering and systematically discriminating against people. So they do have something quite important in common.

        • Not if it doesn't take in to account natural immunity, which it likely won't.

          We really don't know that this system won't account for natural immunity. From TFS:

          These certificates will have three use cases: Vaccination, recovery from infection, and test results.

          If you want to demonstrate your "natural immunity", seems like proof of a past positive test result, or proof that you've recovered from an infection are what you'd need? Whether those who want to see these certificates will consider that equivalent to a vaccine is another question entirely, but that's not the certificate system's problem.

          • >"We really don't know that this system won't account for natural immunity. From TFS:"

            That is a good point. But it is apparent that the focus as been on vaccination, not immunity. This can be seen by an increasing number of articles I am reading about places requiring vaccination with no mention of exception for natural immunity, which is disturbing. Of course, I find the whole "papers please" disturbing, at various levels.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by dryeo ( 100693 )

              Well, natural immunity is going to be more like getting one jab on average, with variations depending on virus exposure to begin with. Lighter exposure, less immunity, along with the fact that the big danger from the vaccine is the drive there, not the vaccine, so very few people have a good excuse for not getting the jabs.
              As for papers, hopefully you don't live in America where the borders extend a hundred miles into the country and the border patrol can ask for papers and search you due to that border.

              • >"Well, natural immunity is going to be more like getting one jab on average"

                Not necessarily. If you had exposure and developed symptoms, your body is exposed to the pathogen for a much longer time and the immune response will be much greater. With a vaccine, the exposure is short and the body has minimal immune reaction (because it doesn't need to, it quickly learns there is no threat and subsides). Typically, a stronger immune response will lead to a more effective immunity. This is why some of the

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by dryeo ( 100693 )

                  Yes, it depends on a few things like initial exposure as I said. As an example, here in Canada, where there is still lots of demand for the first shot, the other week I read about a family that was exposed by there pre-schooler bringing it home. The family had no symptoms to very mild symptoms due to the very low initial virus exposure. They may well have not had much natural immunity from that. IIRC they had their vaccine appointments for that week.
                  There is also the question of what part of the virus your

                  • Indeed, there is nothing simple about any of this. (It does seem unlikely that a preschooler brought a virus to a home, however).

                    On my first vaccination injection, I had zero reaction, other than a moderate amount of arm pain several hours later, but that is pretty typical with most muscular injections. But when I got the SECOND injection 3 weeks later (or was it 4? I can't remember), I developed a fever 16 hours later that lasted for 20 hours. As much as I didn't like it, that did prove to me that my b

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by dryeo ( 100693 )

                      Kids do catch Covid, they just usually don't get sick from it and don't shed a lot of virus. We've had 2 infants die from Covid here, https://duckduckgo.com/?q=infa... [duckduckgo.com] and teachers have a high infection rate (schools have been operating all year here).
                      My first shot, of AstraZenaca, made me feel like crap for one day, luckily I got my shot on Saturday so by Monday I just had a sore arm. Have to wait a couple of more weeks for the 2nd shot and I'll likely opt for an mRNA one for that.
                      As you say, it is a spect

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DrSkwid ( 118965 )

        > Hmm no: the COVID passport proves your body is clean.

        Really ? It shows you are not carrying one of

        Aids, Hepatitis, Malaria, Strep throat, Pink eye, Gastroenteritis, Fifth disease, Chicken pox, Chlamydia, Tuberculosis, Herpes

        Amazing

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dryeo ( 100693 )

      Much of the world is behind the USA when it comes to jabs, I've had one, Astra-Zennaca and it will be another month before I get another.
      Anyways vaccine passports are likely to be for international travel and there is a long history of needing vaccines to be allowed into various countries.

  • Premature Stupidity. (Score:3)

    by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Thursday June 10, 2021 @08:41PM (#61475312)

    This will enable interoperable and trustworthy exchanges of COVID certificates among countries for safe reopening...

    Safe reopening? We have countries at single-digit vaccination levels still. And wealthy countries who shoved politics in between shots, for fucks sake.

    Call me in 5 years when you're doing more than pulling pointless shit out of your ass to "create jobs".

  • Won't matter, this app will be illegal to use in Florida and other places working on bills to ban "vax passports"
    • I suspect there will be a lot of places outside Florida where Floridians simply will not be able to go.

      • I suspect there will be a lot of places outside Florida where Floridians simply will not be able to go.

        So do I. There is an issue of whether other states can bar free travel from Florida to other places, but that's something SCOTUS will probably be tasked with ruling on. When it comes to international travel, face it: There is no right to international travel in that other countries don't have to let you in, regardless of what policies they do or do not have. So I suspect that by the time this is all said and done people will be having their "COVID passport" or "mark of the beast" or whatever the hell people

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

          Now one of the big questions appears to be whether fully vaccinated people (assuming the vaccine worked) can actively transmit the virus without having symptoms.

          Unfortunately - many of us no longer care if anti-vaxxers become ill or expire. They made their choice. This past year has completely destroyed my empathy for them.

          Next up - MAGAs will claim that they don't have to show their licenses, prove their ages, have to present a credit card to buy things or any other thing that might identify them in any way. Muh Rytes!

          • Now one of the big questions appears to be whether fully vaccinated people (assuming the vaccine worked) can actively transmit the virus without having symptoms.

            Unfortunately - many of us no longer care if anti-vaxxers become ill or expire. They made their choice. This past year has completely destroyed my empathy for them.

            Next up - MAGAs will claim that they don't have to show their licenses, prove their ages, have to present a credit card to buy things or any other thing that might identify them in any way. Muh Rytes!

            I totally agree with you on the first point. As for the second, I get it. If they think they're going to go out to the local liquor store and not show ID, they're absolutely insane. But, by the same token, I'd say that voter ID isn't a racist issue at all, which is where this is inevitably going. I have to have ID to get a job, buy alcohol, buy tobacco, drive, get on a plane, in some cases get on a bus or a train, etc. Maybe some people have a problem with that but it's a separate issue. I sure as hell don'

            • The concept of voter ID is not racist in and of itself but it's been historically used in a manner that would lead to racist outcomes, such as some states banning the use of state ID's that African Americans used in greater amounts or the fact that many black people were not issued birth certificates, etc etc. There is a way to do VoterID properly but most of the people pushing for VoterID do not want to implement those measures.

              There is also the issue that people have to present ID to get registered to vo

            • Now one of the big questions appears to be whether fully vaccinated people (assuming the vaccine worked) can actively transmit the virus without having symptoms.

              Unfortunately - many of us no longer care if anti-vaxxers become ill or expire. They made their choice. This past year has completely destroyed my empathy for them.

              Next up - MAGAs will claim that they don't have to show their licenses, prove their ages, have to present a credit card to buy things or any other thing that might identify them in any way. Muh Rytes!

              I totally agree with you on the first point. As for the second, I get it. If they think they're going to go out to the local liquor store and not show ID, they're absolutely insane. But, by the same token, I'd say that voter ID isn't a racist issue at all, which is where this is inevitably going. I have to have ID to get a job, buy alcohol, buy tobacco, drive, get on a plane, in some cases get on a bus or a train, etc. Maybe some people have a problem with that but it's a separate issue. I sure as hell don't. (Now if some dude is just minding his own business and walking down the street and the Man decides they need to show ID I do have a problem with that. *cough* Giuliani.)

              I think it was Alabama where a law was passed where a person could demand a person who looked like a Mexican had to show proof of citizenship. Anyhow, I hope that law is gone now.

              Ah - voter ID. I've had a voter Identification card showing that I was registered in Pennsylvania and where I was registered to vote that's so old it's falling apart.

              Here's the thing though - Voter ID is trotted out near every election, as some sort of voter fraud universally endorsed by the Evul Demoncrats.

              I am 100 perce

        • If states could block US citizens from coming into them from other states, don't you think places like Idaho would vote to ban all these newcomers, which have completed fucked local housing?

          States definitely cannot stop citizens from traveling between them. Here is reference. It may be possible but I can't find any time it was actually done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

          • Oh you'd definitely have states like Texas banning immigration of people from places like California. Housing here in the South is insane (ex: house sold $263k in 2012 now selling for $435k). The immigration is also so rapid that many of the local economies are just completely screwed as a result. Add to that the economic fuckage caused by the pandemic in general, and it's a mess. If some states actually did this, even if it's just based on "your state has a low immunization rate," it will make divisivene

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by deKernel ( 65640 )

        How people are so willingly to give away freedoms for the hope of security.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

          How people are so willingly to give away freedoms for the hope of security.

          Like the freedom of my business to refuse to serve people who refuse to be vaccinated or wear masks?

          You're awfully one-sided with the freedoms that your're willing to label as mere hope of security.

          • How people are so willingly to give away freedoms for the hope of security.

            Like the freedom of my business to refuse to serve people who refuse to be vaccinated or wear masks?

            You're awfully one-sided with the freedoms that your're willing to label as mere hope of security.

            By that definition I should be completely free to deny business to people based on sex, race, skin color, without some kind of genetic history certifying that they're "pure," religion, sexual orientation, or anything else. The libertarian in me says "fine," but it would create a hell of a mess. At the same time, any jackass who did that is going to run himself out of business probably. It's going to be the same with the COVID passports. I'm fully immunized. If I have to show proof to go to a restaurant or

            • Re: (Score:3)

              by DRJlaw ( 946416 )

              By that definition I should be completely free to deny business to people based on sex, race, skin color, without some kind of genetic history certifying that they're "pure," religion, sexual orientation, or anything else.

              Funny how you immediately start listing protected classes under the Civil Rights Act while disregarding the fact that essentially all other characteristics are A-OK for exclusion. Don't meet an arbitrary dress code? Gone. Making you wear a mask? Discrimination. Require vaccines in orde

              • Unfortunately, I need to clarify the point obviously.

                By that definition I should be completely free to deny business to people based on sex, race, skin color, without some kind of genetic history certifying that they're "pure," religion, sexual orientation, or anything else.

                Funny how you immediately start listing protected classes under the Civil Rights Act while disregarding the fact that essentially all other characteristics are A-OK for exclusion. Don't meet an arbitrary dress code? Gone. Making you wear a mask? Discrimination. Require vaccines in order to enroll in public school? Fine. Require vaccines to remain within my business? Discrimination.

                Or not. But that's my decision to make. Vaccination status is not a protected class, unless you happen to live in certain Republican-dominated states that have resisted special protections, for example for LGBTQ people, because those are "choices," but suddenly embrace special protections for political ideology and, now, COVID vaccination status, because... just because.

                I'm fully immunized. If I have to show proof to go to a restaurant or some other place (like a Knicks game), then you can do without my business.

                And that's your decision. But you're not owed service in a "free" market. All you've done is demonstrate that you're willing to use the language of libertarianism only so long as you're the one dictating terms. And that's not libertarianism.

                No, I'm saying that you should be able to deny service based on whatever the hell crazy criteria you come up with. If you want to mandate masks and vaccination proof, more power to you. If some KKK card-holding prick wants to ban blacks, then he should be able to do it. What happened here is by making "protected classes" we created the inevitable (and stupid) "slippery slope" argument.

                I happen to work right now in a place that requires masks. They al

              • Vaccination status is not a protected class, unless you happen to live in certain Republican-dominated states that have resisted special protections, for example for LGBTQ people, because those are "choices," but suddenly embrace special protections for political ideology and, now, COVID vaccination status, because... just because.

                Oh no. It's not "just because." It's very far from "just because." Making people who are not subject to any particular societal disadvantages feel like they are a persecuted minority is a powerful tool that has been used by cultists since time immemorial. It has been incredibly successful in suckering white people in the American South for over a century now.

                The Republican Party is using the language of cultists and it is not an accident. They are doing it with malice aforethought, and it is working.

      • I suspect there will be a lot of places outside Florida where Floridians simply will not be able to go.

        Good. We don't need Florida man bringing his fun to the non-inbred states.

  • What I find is missing in a lot of these solutions is what if the info is wrong? How does one fix it? Because a lot of times trying to fix your information in a government system becomes like an act of god. For example google stories of those wrongly put on government lists (no fly lists, sex offender lists, Social security thinks you are dead, etc.) or even better when you have to deal with the IRS when the issue is in your favor.

    So will there be an easy to call 800#? What if the wrong info prevents me
  • Utterly brilliant, needed, and everyone should be behind it. Particularly the airlines and hotel chains. But only because some idiot decided the WHO vaccination yellow book was obsolete or unworkable. I can already guess those banking on proprietary systems and getting a 'cut' on per record access will be against it. We need to give these no-gooders the publicity they deserve. The system needs to disclose what vaccine was administered, when and batch numbers, in case future variants prove problematic. I wou
    • The hotel chain wants a list of your sexual partners because you might leave chlamydia in their room. That would just be gross. Oh, and did you get your measles vaccination back in the day? What about hepatitis A? (Hint: Most adults don't.) By the way, the Vegas hotel you're staying in wants to invade your room and rifle through your stuff when you aren't there (which they know because facial recognition cameras and other stuff), and try to jack with your laptop you have locked on the desk for "security." T
      • Do you have a credit reference file? They already know everything. Off the point. One objects to being modern day tracked and tagged. In many countries, you are rooted as soon as you get a bank account, a passport, a drivers license, school or pay taxes, or need an operation, or have paws out for social security or support, or get a job. Very hard to go off-grid. If you travel overseas, you know it is futile to reject fingerprinting and face identification, or electronic swaps of citizen dossiers. We are

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by leonbev ( 111395 )

      I always wondered how these COVID vaccination passports would handle a legal challenge from people would see it as a HIPPA violation. I'm not a lawyer, but I do see some privacy concerns here.

  • But Linux foundation thinks the most important thing is to help bully people who don't want them in rich countries? This doesn't make sense even from pure nationalist point of view, because we can target surplus shots to places and individuals that we deem most likely to spread virus widely and generate new variants. Vaccinating a taxi driver in India may well reduce danger to yourself more than vaccinating your next door neighbor.

    • What's your suggestion? That the Linux Foundation hold off on a potentially useful project, until all of the more serious problems are solved by other people first? Vaccinating a taxi driver in India isn't exactly within the remit of the Linux Foundation. Creating a technological solution for certifying that an individual is vaccinated (maybe) is. There's nothing wrong with parallelizing the work.

  • Aren't chips in vaccines already joined to Azure Active Directory? :)
  • By the time this system gets developed and deployed we will be able to perform extremely rapid minimally invasive testing. If said testing includes a host of other transmissible diseases we could likely make a huge impact on humanity. People are already freely giving DNA etc why not work with it.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by larwe ( 858929 )

      By the time this system gets developed and deployed we will be able to perform extremely rapid minimally invasive testing.

      The "invasive" part being discussed here isn't the mechanics of sample collection, it's providing this information to a third party - though I will add that to many people, having someone stick a needle in you and take blood is DAMNED invasive. Note that in all this tussle (speaking specifically for the US), nobody has said whether these third parties are defined as Covered Entities for HIPAA reasons. It matters, because a Covered Entity is legally obliged to secure PHI, and there are criminal penalties inc

      • My point is that third parties are already collecting and using this information. To pretend they are not is foolish. I do not like the fact but it is just too damn hard to police when a large portion of humanity either wants this or doesn't care. Unfortunately bad people do not care about rules. Regardless of any laws and regulations, we do have like 180+ countries and anyone with enough wealth can just operate on the open oceans without rules.

  • I'm not against this at all. I think it's a solid idea. Of all the reasons that the government collects information about me, this is the least nefarious. It's also the easiest example of tying information usage directly to a positive outcome for me specifically. Given the choice between an airline that uses the service vs. one that doesn't, I'll take the "overshadowed" flight every time.

  • I don't get it. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by rlwinm ( 6158720 )
    I live in a densely populated place where nobody wears masks and few people get the vaccine for COVID. It was never a big deal. I probably know some ~30 people who have had it. Nobody I know understands the hysteria behind a bad respiratory infection. Yeah, they happen. This insanity in our society has never approached this level.

    Consider that the slippery slope argument is important. Imagine our society after going down this path for a year. I
  • I travelled internationally 3x during Covid and having to show proof of testing at least as of early March was not a very efficient process. It was mostly all paper. Each testing outfit had their own format for the paper form so the airline folks had to hunt and peck for the info they actually needed. Thankfully, with almost no one traveling it didn't create a huge ordeal but if they are going to ramp travel back up yet still require producing proof of testing or vaccination something will have to happen.

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