QOTW: Will you use a coronavirus contact-tracing app?

[ik9000]

I probably will, let's face it we've already got Google following our every move sending monthly reports of where we've been.

I have friends who work at google who go to great lengths to tell me how seriously they are made to take privacy and the efforts they made (even before GDPR) to be sensible with the data they have access to.

I have friends who work for the government, civil service et al who are unable to be as vociferous or insistent with any reassurances they feel able to offer.

Draw your own conculsions.

edit it's not to say I am comfortable with google, amazon et al and the amounts of data they are accruing. But just because one dog might have bitten me does not mean I will present my butt to another one to take a larger bite - particularly when that dog seems to be displaying distinct signs of what might be rabies or the like.

[Gentle Viking]

The dog that once bit me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, government on my phone.

[=assassin=]

Can't as i don't have or want a 'smart' phone.

Same for me too! I doubt I'd use it anyway, due to privacy aspect others have mentioned.

[gagaga]

Will it have pay to win and loot boxes?

[ik9000]

Will it have pay to win and loot boxes?

no, but it will change your ringtone to "Taxman" by the Beatles

[Percy1983]

Sure will, bluetooth pings don't scare me.

My tinfoil hat will protect me from 5G so all good here.

[Myss_tree]

What privacy concerns does the average person have though?
Unless your a targetted indivdual or part of a dubious group and so possibly already on the rader, what is the actual threat to Bob Average?

[micles5]

Nope. But i would say GPS underskin chips will be mandatory in a future. They just want us to OBEY.

[Dareos]

I believe Scotland are looking at a different approach, so im waiting to see, however the head of Cyber Security at Glasgow Caledonian had a bit to say about it on Linkedin and linked to this article

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/se...ct-tracing-app

[Saracen999]

....

My mother are probably gone before the years is over according to doctors, a week or so after that happen my phone will be gone too, i personally have no need for it.

That comment almost slipped past me, GV. I don't know what to say beyond despite and lockdown restrictions, make the most of the remaining time. And try to think of all the questions you will later wish yoh'd asked, because by my experience, there will be loads. In my case, I wish I knew more about her early years, childhood in the lattdr part of WW2, and personal recollections of family I never knew because the war clzimec them. So msny questions I can never ask now.

I'm sure I don't need to say it, but make the most of whatever time is left. It's all too easy to let a day here and a day there slip past, so use every single one. I'm wishing you the very best for troubled times.

[Corky34]

What privacy concerns does the average person have though?
Unless your a targetted indivdual or part of a dubious group and so possibly already on the rader, what is the actual threat to Bob Average?

There's far to many to cover in a single post so I'll only post a short video.



Someone could spend days reading results of Google searches on things like the dangers of big data.

[Saracen999]

I still haven't decided. On days where the day-of-month is an odd number, I'm "Hell, no", but on even-numbered days, I'm thinking .... anything to help fight this bleeping virus.

I have a bit of a reputation for being .... let's call it 'privacy conscious'. Others have referred to tinfoil hats. And I still loathe Google, etc. I still pay by cash wherever possible still refuse contactless cards etc, but even I have to wonder .... exactly what privacy risk is there? Minimal, probably. Except to mission creep.
And what else other than virus fighting will the data be used for? At least it isn't nakedly commercial, and intrusive like Google.

And as I understand it, even on the centralised model all data stays on my phone only, unless a virus-contact alert is made.

Will I uxe it? Cunno. What date will if be released UK-wide on? Odd or even?



Oh, and if Harriet Harmon gets her proposed legislation into law, I ll probably settle on yes, I'll uxe it.

[spacein_vader]

Similar to others if we abandon the current NHSX version and revert to the decentralised proposal much of the rest of the world are going with I would consider it and probably use it.

The current mess, no way.

[judge56988]

There's a lot of paranoid and antisocial people in these parts. What hapenned to the idea of "the greater good"? There is a crisis, an emergency situation and people might have to make a few small sacrifices to get through it.
Britain is one of the free-est societies in the world; there are far, far worse places to live.
Yes, I'd have it and I think it should be mandatory. It's like people who refuse to have their kids vaccinated, a few selfish people putting everyone else at risk.

[selfishtoaster]

that is if you dont bother about the A holes when i shop that can not keep a distance and which i constantly have to threaten with a beating if they dont back off.

I'll take things that never happened for 500, Alex.

[ik9000]

There's a lot of paranoid and antisocial people in these parts. What hapenned to the idea of "the greater good"? There is a crisis, an emergency situation and people might have to make a few small sacrifices to get through it.
Britain is one of the free-est societies in the world; there are far, far worse places to live.
Yes, I'd have it and I think it should be mandatory. It's like people who refuse to have their kids vaccinated, a few selfish people putting everyone else at risk.

the greater good? Wake up and smell the coffee. It's for the greater good I'm following self isolation rules and staying at home. But it is not for the greater good to rely on a poorly conceived and executed app that, at its core, relies on self-reporting instead of testing. The greater good is our government taking the threat seriously when it was first reported and ensuring we have the supply of resources needed to deal with it. The greater good is our government listening to its own reports issued years before this outbreak and ensuring the recommendations were acted upon. The greater good is not ploughing on with brexit negotiations when the world is in crisis. FFS don't say it's for the greater good we should voluntarily waive our legal right to privacy.

It is nothing like anti-vaccers. There is a scientific proven benefit to vaccination. I think vaccination should mandatory frankly. This app however:
1) doesn't work on all smart phones, nevermind dumb phones
2) has no protections or guarantees of anonymity
3) has no guarantees on how long the data will be stored, or used in future - there is no reasonable grounds for this. If as you say it is to deal with a crisis noone should object to scrubbing the servers once the crisis is over. That they are not offering to do so speaks volumes to me.
4) is irrelevant for people who are actually bothering to STAY AT HOME.
5) doesn't guarantee you will actually be tested.
6) other countries are happy with a properly anonymised system, so why is that not good enough for us. Especially if, as you claim, we are one of the freeest societies in the world. (I disagree with that by the way - we have a number of restrictions other places do not, and are being increasingly surveiled whether or not you notice the problems of that yet.)

Good luck making it mandatory for me to use it on my nokia 112.