Are you Going to use the COVIDsafe App?

[serfty]

I did research this a fair bit and I decided I was happy to:

Privacy Policy

The COVIDSafe app speeds up contacting people exposed to coronavirus (COVID-19). This helps us support and protect you, your friends and family. Please read the content on this page before downloading.

www.health.gov.au

 

[nutwood]

So you'd be ok with signing a book that everyone before you has signed? And others after you will see and sign. Showing the Restaurant and others your name and mobile? so in the case of Covid the Restaurant would have to hand over that book for someone else to go through and contact everyone on it?
How is that easier?

Old fashioned technology. Simple and effective. I do understand your point but your argument is based on the assumption that the app is 100 % effective. I'm of the opinion that the results will be wildly variable. The 1.5 for 15 leaves so many holes. How about 3 for 120, or 0.2 for 1?
I sign visitor books all the time. Basic legislation could cover privacy but really anyone with privacy concerns can fudge it, in the same way as they could turn their Bluetooth off. Realistically, the app is handing out your details all the time. There may be restrictions on who can access the data the app collects, but what's to stop another app requesting the same information? The security can't be that tight or the phones would never get to communicate.
There's probably people sitting in sheds right now, working out the best way to reverse engineer and create a data mining app that just collects details from any Covid app it encounters.

 

[AisleSeat]

I think downloading the app should be incentivised. No, not a free case of beer , but say in terms of access to some currently restricted activities.
If the app is downloaded and active on your phone you are one of a group of people who will be allowed access to restaurants etc. Before you enter a venue you display the app. tick of approval or whatever it might be on your phone, and you are permitted to enter. Without it you can legally be refused entry.
In this way the medical authorities will be able to quickly trace any 2nd wave outbreak and the govt. might be more prepared to lift some restrictions.

Sounds like China's health code app

Inside China's Smartphone 'Health Code' System Ruling Post-Coronavirus Life

The technology uses green, yellow and red codes to indicate those who likely are—and aren't—infected

time.com

 

[AisleSeat]

I downloaded just now.

My phone is pretty much going to sit on my "desk" all day, so I'll be able to monitor battery drain. Download happened at 95%. I'll check back later today.

Like others, I did have some concerns around this app, but I watched the teardown last night and the consensus is that it's above board.

Some things that haven't been mentioned in relation to tracking concerns:

• On Android, apps must have location permission on to use Bluetooth. iOS doesn't have this requirement.
• By having BT on, users are open to BT iBeacons, which are used extensively for ads. For example you walk in a store (that you have the app for), beacon detects BT on your phone and you get an ad on your screen. (Yes, I know, no-ones shopping right now). However, if you search for something on your phone and end up on a retail website and then enter that physical store (sometime in the future) that has a beacon, that beacon will then link you to that search. Other beacons are used in public places for information etc, and may record a log of your phone connecting.
• Bluetooth hacking. Because now a lot of people are expected to have BT on, individuals could be targeted for hacks, as it can be assumed their BT is on. To take it to a (mostly) extreme situation, a hacker can sit in their car in a Bunnings car park on a Saturday and scan the 100 people that are lined up outside.

 

[Anna]

Yesterday I went to a site that currently requires 2 separate forms to be signed and a temperature check before entry is allowed.

On arriving at the reception desk I obediently leaned forward as directed so the receptionist could take the temperature of my forehead. '34.8', she announced briskly. 'What!!', I said, alarmed. 'It's colder outside today so your body temperature will be lower than usual', she confidently assured me. (Her name was Karen. I assume she is the person that the internet meme is named after).

So apparently I officially have hypothermia

My actual point is that it doesn't really matter what the entry requirements are if the person governing the entrance is an idiot.

 

[Pushka]

Yesterday I went to a site that currently requires 2 separate forms to be signed and a temperature check before entry is allowed.

On arriving at the reception desk I obediently leaned forward as directed so the receptionist could take the temperature of my forehead. '34.8', she announced briskly. 'What!!', I said, alarmed. 'It's colder outside today so your body temperature will be lower than usual', she confidently assured me. (Her name was Karen. I assume she is the person that the internet meme is named after).

So apparently I officially have hypothermia

My actual point is that it doesn't really matter what the entry requirements are if the person governing the entrance is an idiot.

See. This is why you need the app. We are surrounded by numpty Karens.

 

[p--and--t]

I absolutely respect an individuals choice to not download the app, but some of the concocted wild "reasons" not to or obtuse "alternatives" are just ridiculous. Better just to say no and be done with it.

 

[samh004]

I think downloading the app should be incentivised. No, not a free case of beer , but say in terms of access to some currently restricted activities.
If the app is downloaded and active on your phone you are one of a group of people who will be allowed access to restaurants etc. Before you enter a venue you display the app. tick of approval or whatever it might be on your phone, and you are permitted to enter. Without it you can legally be refused entry.
In this way the medical authorities will be able to quickly trace any 2nd wave outbreak and the govt. might be more prepared to lift some restrictions.

I quite like that idea! But then I was just happy to become a Beacon Lighting VIP a few weeks ago, so it's all a function of getting to a tier that others don't have... much like a loyalty program

 

[RooFlyer]

If your lifestyle is similar to mine, the app is likely to be as much good to you as me. If you're not in contact with people, what's the point? If it makes you feel better about yourself though, that's a perfectly legitimate objective in it's own right, and one that I think a lot of people may well share.
With regard to battery life and messing with Bluetooth, you are not correct in suggesting some form of self justification. If I was totally comfortable with the app, I'd download it on the basis of "why not?". My concerns are not serious, however when I can see absolutely no benefit, why would I ignore even minor concerns?

My bolding

For the greater good of society. So we can all inch our way out of government-mandated restrictions sooner rather than later. So, even in the very unlikely event that you were in close contact with someone for 15 mins or so, the authorities could find YOU quicker and tell you that you were now at elevated risk you yourself and others. Maybe that early warning would stop you spreading it to friends and family. Remember, its not just spread from person-to-person contact. You might leave it on a surface, for someone else to collect.

There are lots of analogies for us suffering inconveniences 'for the greater good', and ones even you accept, no doubt. You speak of 'minor concerns'; there is a way to see if your concerns are valid, rather than just complaining of them here - download the app and actually see what happens. But even if 'minor concerns', are met, I think its sad you aren't willing to suffer those 'minor concerns' for the social benefits which are part of the app's reason for being.

I recommend this book for a bigger picture (no, not that book, this one )

 

[AisleSeat]

Article on last night's app teardown.

Experts Explain Why They're Not Worried About COVIDSafe

On Wednesday night five tech experts hosted a COVIDSafe App Teardown & Panel Discussion to present and explain their findings after looking into the code of the government’s new COVIDSafe app. Despite issues with the app on iOS as well as general fears around security and privacy, the vast...

www.gizmodo.com.au

 

[RooFlyer]

Before you enter a venue you display the app. tick of approval or whatever it might be on your phone, and you are permitted to enter. Without it you can legally be refused entry.
In this way the medical authorities will be able to quickly trace any 2nd wave outbreak and the govt. might be more prepared to lift some restrictions.

Excellent idea! Airlines could easily mandate it.

I sign visitor books all the time.

Not during a pandemic, you don't.

Realistically, the app is handing out your details all the time. There may be restrictions on who can access the data the app collects, but what's to stop another app requesting the same information?

Sorry, that's nonsense, and shown to be nonsense. Like most of your arguments, its based on a confection of bad 'what ifs', without any attempt to see, find out for yourself, or do basic, research if the 'what if' has already been debunked. I get it, you aren't going to download the app, because there's nothing in it for you. But please hold off all these confected 'problems' to excuse the not doing it.

 

[Quickstatus]

Realistically, the app is handing out your details all the time. There may be restrictions on who can access the data the app collects, but what's to stop another app requesting the same information? The security can't be that tight or the phones would never get to communicate.
There's probably people sitting in sheds right now, working out the best way to reverse engineer and create a data mining app that just collects details from any Covid app it encounters.

Its not as though Covid-19 suddenly gave hackers a lightbulb moment. Hackers are continually probing vulnerabilities in any computer or smart device and have been since the computer was invented.
I assume you have a smartphone?. If you are worried about someone hacking your phone, then maybe you should never have got a smartphone in the first place and just relied on the rotary phones because Covid is not the only current hacking opportunity.

 

[tomlee1986]

Sounds like China's health code app

Inside China's Smartphone 'Health Code' System Ruling Post-Coronavirus Life

The technology uses green, yellow and red codes to indicate those who likely are—and aren't—infected

time.com

I did say I would not download the COVIDSafe due to privacy concerns... the Chinese health code app is even more of a sham than the one we use... this is because the Chinese one can be brought on Taobao (equivalent to eBay)

 

[QF WP]

Yes, after hearing all the IT people who have reviewed the way it works. For the greater good and all that

 

[DC3]

And another ’star’ gets caught out. I hope that they will dance with their phones on board and apps running, next time.

Cleary should now be banned for the season, says deputy premier

John Barilaro, who has supported the NRL in its bid to resume on May 28, is incensed that further material showing Nathan Cleary failing to respect social distancing orders has emerged.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Steady]

I did say I would not download the COVIDSafe due to privacy concerns... the Chinese health code app is even more of a sham than the one we use... this is because the Chinese one can be brought on Taobao (equivalent to eBay)

The one we use is a sham? I don't understand this comment

 

[tomlee1986]

The one we use is a sham? I don't understand this comment

you misunderstood me.. I meant the Chinese health code! not COVIDSafe! The Chinese one IS a sham!

 

[DC3]

I absolutely respect an individuals choice to not download the app ....

The worst part about the app is having to find total strangers to sit/stand near, for more than 15 minutes, to make this worthwhile.

 

[Steady]

you misunderstood me.. I meant the Chinese health code! not COVIDSafe!

Yes I did, that is why I said I didn't understand

 

[Quickstatus]

the Chinese health code app is even more of a sham

The context is different though...
There are no privacy laws in China and obedience to the ruling CCP is expected.

 

[tomlee1986]

Yes I did, that is why I said I didn't understand

My apologies to you.. my mistake on not making it more clearer.. Oops!