Digital tracking of quarantined people

[GoldCanyon340]

I will not, under any circumstance, download a contact tracing app to my phone. If it gets baked in to a future firmware release I will leave my phone at home.

 

[tgh]

I will not, under any circumstance, download a contact tracing app to my phone

You don't need to if you have Google or Facebook or dozens of others.. they are all doing it for you ( well for themselves aksherley )

 

[Flashback]

Israel now starting to wind back usage of their app.

Israel suspends cellphone-tracking for coronavirus quarantine enforcement

Police use of mobile data to enforce quarantines stopped.

www.itnews.com.au

 

[tgh]

Civil rights are a double edged sword…..

 

[nickykim]

I won’t download the app - there are people on here who would have participated in the anti-Australia card protests. After the protest in Qld some of us got a please explain visit from the Federal Policy...

 

[GoldCanyon340]

I will not, under any circumstance, download a contact tracing app to my phone

You don't need to if you have Google or Facebook or dozens of others.. they are all doing it for you ( well for themselves aksherley )

I removed all social media from my phone once Covid started flooding those platforms.

My main issue with contact tracing apps on phones is that they legitimise what governments around the world do anyway, namely, tracing people at all times.

 

[dajop]

Israel now starting to wind back usage of their app.

Israel suspends cellphone-tracking for coronavirus quarantine enforcement

Police use of mobile data to enforce quarantines stopped.

www.itnews.com.au

Completely different - that talks about police using general cell phone geolocation data to identify when people breach isolation orders (or whatever they are called). The article mentions the contract tracing app will continue.

The Australian app is about using Bluetooth signals from nearby phones talking to each other and recording when there had been contact between the two signals for a predefined period/distance. This will be used by health officials for contract tracing.

There does need to be safeguards to prevent use by police for enforcement of social isolation and for other measures (eg contact between drug dealers, terrorists etc). Of course if you are engaging in nefarious activities you could not download the app, turn your phone off or even just turn Bluetooth off at the time of said activities.

 

[tomlee1986]

I would not download this app either - I understand there is a need to protect the public, therefore unless there is safeguards such as only the relevant people can gather this data for the SOLE purpose of contacting people for possible infection of this virus, and the data must be deleted after a month (rolling deletion) - as the cases normally lasts for 14 days, then double the days just in case, and ALL remaining data must be deleted when the pandemic is over. Then I would not install this app. Police can NOT use this app for any purpose unless it is for the pandemic contact to advise them of possible infection only

 

[dajop]

unless there is safeguards such as only the relevant people can gather this data for the SOLE purpose of contacting people for possible infection of this virus, and the data must be deleted after a month (rolling deletion) -

You're a bit of a fascist then, one month??? I think the number that was talked about publicly was rolling deletion of data on the phone within 21 days.

 

[tomlee1986]

You're a bit of a fascist then, one month??? I think the number that was talked about publicly was rolling deletion of data on the phone within 21 days.

The reason i said a month is because I thought it was kept for longer - then i thought with the disease would stay in a person for around 14 days, so I doubled it to a month just in case - the reason people do NOT want this app is privacy concerns.

Yes, you can say we give more details on facebook and so on, but these entities we gave WILLINGLY, not being compelled to provide, and these details would not lead to any legal consequences - such as police, centrelink or the tax office

 

[jb747]

Social distancing forever, or a Bluetooth app with legislated use, and deletion of data. Seems a fairly simple choice.

Apple (and Google) have offered APIs which will allow these apps to be built, and they will only do so if there is no centralised database. I probably trust Apple more than any government, which is a sad state of affairs in itself.

 

[tomlee1986]

Social distancing forever, or a Bluetooth app with legislated use, and deletion of data. Seems a fairly simple choice.

Apple (and Google) have offered APIs which will allow these apps to be built, and they will only do so if there is no centralised database. I probably trust Apple more than any government, which is a sad state of affairs in itself.

I completely agreed with you... The app I agree is useful, and I think we should download it, BUT only if there is legislated safeguards on the data collected on this app can ONLY be used for the purpose to fix this pandemic. And the data must be deleted within a short period of time. Any future use of this data must NOT be allowed in any time AFTER the pandemic is over

 

[dajop]

Yes, you can say we give more details on facebook and so on, but these entities we gave WILLINGLY, not being compelled to provide, and these details would not lead to any legal consequences - such as police, centrelink or the tax office

Don't bet on that.

I don't know, I feel more comfortable in a democracy such as ours voluntarily giving such data to the government, under the watchful eyes of the privacy commissioner and the opposition, where there is an ability to change governments (through voting) or change the leadership of the government (through pressure on MPs in the leaders party), than blindly giving all sorts of personal information to a foreign corporation that ultimately is only accountable to shareholders, and wields tremendous influence over the laws that govern them.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Data is never deleted by governments, it is only archived (*)

(*) except to remove evidence of incompetence or culpability

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Social distancing forever, or a Bluetooth app with legislated use, and deletion of data. Seems a fairly simple choice.

But how many billion people in the world do not own a smartphone or Bluetooth enabled device?

 

[dajop]

Data is never deleted by governments, it is only archived (*)

(*) except to remove evidence of incompetence or culpability

It will be interesting to see what the experts reviewing the source code say. I'm not so naive so as to trust everything the government tells us, but the concept that the government wouldn't access your data unless you came into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. But where is the rolling 21 day data stored (and deleted from) in the meantime?

I'm also finding it interesting that many of the opponents of this app on privacy grounds (in the public sphere, not AFF) are the same ones that are more than happy to see far bigger incursions in privacy to fight terrorism.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

I'm also finding it interesting that many of the opponents of this app on privacy grounds (in the public sphere, not AFF) are the same ones that are more than happy to see far bigger incursions in privacy to fight terrorism.

This may be because smartphones are now upfront and centre in many peoples' lives. Other gradual restrictions on daily life in the name of national security or combating terrorism are generally accepted, maybe grudgingly, as they are small or on the periphery. It's the same with how the public view politicians: most people will put up with stupid general policies as long as they're personally doing OK but hit them in the pocket and it's a whole new game. Ultimately it was WorkChoices that brought down John Howard and not Europe but the Poll Tax that felled Margaret Thatcher.

 

[Daver6]

It will be interesting to see what the experts reviewing the source code say. I'm not so naive so as to trust everything the government tells us, but the concept that the government wouldn't access your data unless you came into contact with someone who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. But where is the rolling 21 day data stored (and deleted from) in the meantime?

They're saying the data remains on your phone. It only gets uploaded when YOU choose to upload it after you're confirmed infected.

 

[tomlee1986]

They're saying the data remains on your phone. It only gets uploaded when YOU choose to upload it after you're confirmed infected.

How much you trust this statement? To be honest - I have my doubts...

 

[Daver6]

Interesting route for Australia to take, making the source code available for all to review on the contact tracing app.

Govt to release source code of forthcoming 'COVID trace' app

Will also make privacy assessment public.

www.itnews.com.au

How much you trust this statement? To be honest - I have my doubts...

If they release the source code as they say they will, then I'd trust it.