Will you be downloading the Government track & trace app?

[Brewnaldo]

Whatever, il continue to view anything that comes from the Conservative and Unionist party through the prism of the form guide that marks them out as deeply untrustworthy and malicious, including this app.

That's the last 10 years (ideological austerity) form guide, the covid crisis (ppe and testing number fudging, herd immunity) form guide, and the one that goes further back than I do (Falklands War, ruined mining communities including where I grew up).

The idea of automatically trusting anything they are involved in is as alien to me as anything I can think of.

I'd happily use the app, but I am yet to see the assurances that I need to see re its use. It's likely il never see those assurances, and if they come, they probably have to come from Nicola Sturgeon for me to buy it.

 

[Jonnymac]

I voted no, for a number of reasons. Some already listed, some not.
I may end up using it, as it could end up as a prerequisite to travel and i need to travel for work. If i do, it will be on my work phone only.
As for the identity issue, the app will almost certainly use advanced algorithms or AI for data mining. These will look for patterns and be very effective at it.
Once a certain user demographic or subset had been identified, it would be be no problem to find out who they are from the first line of the postcode and the car their phone connects to. Couple that with the fact that if it can tell you if you have been in close proximity to someone with Covid 19, it can almost certainly triangulate you to within 2 Metres of your position, it wouldn't take long for them to know where you live.
Leave it for the Millenials, who seem to revel in having apps and freely giving data. They are the ones most likely not to heed lockdown anyway.

 

[Rodcx500z]

+1 above, and now it transpires it's already flawed, logic tells me there is a reason everything is connected and it's not for fun

 

[TheBlindHarper]

No way would I download the app, or anything remotely like it. We're already one of the most surveyed (Via CCTV) nations in the world, I'm not going to make it any easier for them.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

+1 above, and now it transpires it's already flawed, logic tells me there is a reason everything is connected and it's not for fun

They are testing it there are bound to be bugs i am sure they will be sorted by the time us plebs can use it.

 

[simon12]

I don't have a smart phone but would consider getting one just to use the app, I think if you are using a smart phone you likely already have stuff thats as big a risk to privacy. And chippy is already selling all our data to the Russians.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Coronavirus: Hands on with NHS Covid-19 contact-tracing app


For an app with so much riding on it, NHS Covid-19 is at first sight very simple and extraordinarily unexciting.

At this stage, it is available to only NHS and council workers on the Isle of Wight.

On Thursday, other residents of the island will receive a leaflet containing a link that will trigger a download.

And eventually anyone will be able to download it directly from the UK versions of Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store.

I have been given special early access.

When you install it, you are asked to enter the first four characters of your postcode.

Then, you are asked to set up app permissions.

First, you have to allow the app to use Bluetooth Low Energy to determine when it is near another phone using the app, keeping Bluetooth on at all times.

Next, you approve push notifications so the app can alert you if you have been near someone with symptoms of the virus.

Finally, you end up on a very simple home screen.

It offers the current advice on stopping the spread of the virus and asks a question: "How are you feeling today?"

There is a menu option: "I feel unwell - I have a high temperature or continuous cough and want to know what to do next."

If you choose this, you are asked whether you have a high temperature or a continuous cough.

If you answer yes to either question, you are asked when the symptoms started.

If you are not on the Isle of Wight, you can submit this information but, at the moment, nothing more happens.

Full article - Hands on with the NHS coronavirus-tracing app

 

[dad_of_jon]

Yes I will use the app. Need to do everything we can to get to some kind of normal, whatever that might be. I’m pretty sure the other apps on my phone are more intrusive than this new one.

I could tell you how intrusive the other apps are, but then I'd have to kill you*

*not me personally but your name goes on a list...

 

[Deathstar]

There seems to be a misunderstanding on how this app will work. Essentially it’s looking at proximity to others.
From my awareness. User 1 will have a randomised ID, user 2 will also have a randomised ID and on it goes. It uses Bluetooth as proximity sensor. User 2 is diagnosed. Anyone who has been in proximity to user 2 will be notified only once they have been confirmed. I believe only the NHS will only be able to trigger this notification, the anonymous database will then ping those who have been in their proximity.
However I could be wrong.....
Though, my safety and the safety of others should take precedence over any potential small data privacy issues, as I for one would like to know if I have been near someone who has Covid. I then can isolate longer, knowing I will not be passing it on. That really should be the key to all this.
For those who have a smartphone and are concerned about data privacy, I’d recommend you look out for a Nokia 101.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I believe only the NHS will only be able to trigger this notification, the anonymous database will then ping those who have been in their proximity.

I believe that is the way it works.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Whilst this happened some time ago.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzhokhar_Dudayev
Anyone installing the app might be wary that NHS staff might arrive at your doorstep to test you it you say you're unwell. I don't think you're going to get a missile through your letterbox if you test positive.

As I mentioned before privacy dies with the subject. The choice may be a longer lockdown because the app isnt used. Of course if you've been teaming up with mates for 5 a side footy, so not following guidelines I get that. However if you have followed guidelines, you need to consider privacy vs freedom vs risk of death. That will be different for us all, so it's very hard to compel those who have a particular principle to drop it. It is still of course possible to go out without your phone for those who are not surgically attached to it.

 

[Drunkula]

keeping Bluetooth on at all times.

Quick note, lads - don't bluetooth your phone to the kitchen speaker and then go and watch porn in the bath and wonder why there's no sound from the phone but lots of shrieking downstairs.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Quick note, lads - don't bluetooth your phone to the kitchen speaker and then go and watch porn in the bath and wonder why there's no sound from the phone but lots of shrieking downstairs.

 

[foxy]

Yes I have downloaded the app along with millions of others, we have a few of the grumbling gullible's here as well who think its a government conspiracy to spy on them, can't understand why they would think the government would have any interest in them.
Biggest government collector of data (especially here) would have to be the tax office.

 

[terrym]

Whilst this happened some time ago.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzhokhar_Dudayev
Anyone installing the app might be wary that NHS staff might arrive at your doorstep to test you it you say you're unwell. I don't think you're going to get a missile through your letterbox if you test positive.

As I mentioned before privacy dies with the subject. The choice may be a longer lockdown because the app isnt used. Of course if you've been teaming up with mates for 5 a side footy, so not following guidelines I get that. However if you have followed guidelines, you need to consider privacy vs freedom vs risk of death. That will be different for us all, so it's very hard to compel those who have a particular principle to drop it. It is still of course possible to go out without your phone for those who are not surgically attached to it.

+1 on all of that.

 

[terrym]

we have a few of the grumbling gullible's here as well who think its a government conspiracy to spy on them, can't understand why they would think the government would have any interest in them.

Sadly we appear to have more than just a few

 

[BeerCat]

No

 

[Futureboy77]

Sadly we appear to have more than just a few

Just look at Cambridge Analytica. It's no surprise that free thinking people are reticent to hand over data.

 

[terrym]

Just look at Cambridge Analytica. It's no surprise that free thinking people are reticent to hand over data.

If 'freethinking' comes into it at all as in using intellect to make a decision based on logic, I would have thought choosing between a risk of death against possible data mismanagement was fairly easy. Your 'freethinking' obviously works in a different way to mine.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Ok i know i voted no and said i would not download it, the problem i have is i dont trust goverments and my misses is on the 12 week lock down list so her health mine and others as well is more important than a crappy bit of data so i have decided i will use it, cheers Terry i have just realigned my free thinking