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Ok well I work in criminal law, and I can assure you that the very thing you say cannot be done is done every single day in the United States and has been for over a decade.
No, carriers can not "ping your GPS" or otherwise obtain your location with GPS accuracy. The language alone makes it obvious that you (and anyone else who uses this phrase) have no idea how the technology works. But believe what you want. I'm out.
 
To anyone who would never want this.
I hope you will enjoy keeping your total privacy as you are in hospital on a ventilator on the verge of dying at any moment.
Also be proud that, due to your selfish choices you may have infected others who may die, as there will be no record of you being near them as you were passing your infection to them.
False equivalence at work here. Valuing ones privacy or being concerned about society turning into some ugly surveillance state does not equal to wanting to infect other people. Responsible people will want to be tested and self quarantine, but they could also not want to take part in what this app does and the slippery slope it represents.

You are basically wishing a horrific death on people like me who have no intention of infecting anyone and am following all guidelines plus some extra. But I also have serious qualms about this app and the potential negative ramifications. I well remember how a similar atmosphere of fear and suspicion supported the passage of the Patriot Act before anyone really had a chance to question the ramifications, most of which have been anything but patriotic.

I realize there are irresponsible selfish people out there who don’t care whom they might infect. We saw plenty of them on the news partying it up. They’re not likely to bother with this app anyway. Then we are talking about the government or the private sector mandating the app.

We have talked on this forum before of Apple and other companies moving on to wearables and eventually moving away from portables (cell phones). Other tech leaders have gone on record pushing the idea of implanted technology. Someday, the same arguments such as yours will be made against people who don’t want to have implants. Social pressures and attitudes such as yours will be made against people who don’t want something implanted in their bodies. I think the time to make a stand against surveillance technology is while it is still at the stage of being carried and not worn nor implanted.
 
What Apple & Google don't understand is that this will be the first real reason to ditch the phone when you go to a party or other social event. Or even better have two phones one that stays clean and is used when required by the oppressive government and one to use when you want to be a free human.
A strategy that might look good for companies that sell mobile phones (AAPL), and for people who can easily afford to pay for an extra one. But ML & data mining can be used to match the data from multiple phones (and wearables!) back to one individual and set of contacts.
 
Nice, and after this pandemic is over the infrastructure of contacts tracing will be there, ready to be plugged into surveillance structures of countries like China, Russia, Turkey, and well, the US.
Guess which country has by far the largest budget and resouces dedicated to spying on its own citizens, purely for the "crime" of just existing? Don't know? Google "Edward Snowden".

I wonder what he must be thinking watching this unfold....
 
Nope, because the only reason our other businesses are closed right now...is because the governor forced them to. And for those who fit under the “essential” category...they are still suffering due to the fact that people aren’t going out right now due to the threat of a fine or arrest. As far as we’re concerned here...f*ck Walmart and McDonald’s. Small businesses bring in a LOT of money to our town under normal circumstances. They are taking a huge hit. If they all shutter...Walmart and McDonald’s won’t save us. My state as a whole is already a financial toilet bowl and it was before this virus. We literally can not afford to lose small businesses.

This is the problem with some people. You’re only focused on the situation as it is NOW. While totally ignoring what inevitably will come after. Yes...we need to survive this virus in the NOW. But we also need to have jobs to go back to afterwards so we can continue to live when it’s over. Lucky for me...that’s not a worry of mine. My nursing job sure as heck isn’t going away. My wife’s teaching job...isn’t going away. But the people who’s small business is their entire livelihood? We need to worry about them, too. Clearly...you aren’t. A lot of these people risk being put out on the street when this is over because their business didn’t survive this and they have no income to keep their home.

Are you familiar with the law of unintended consequences? This entire scenario is a poster child for it. What we’re left with when this is over...won’t be good. It’s going to be a whole new MAJOR problem that will be just as difficult to bounce back from as what we’re dealing with now.

The businesses that were asked to shut down were the ones that were deemed unessential by the community. The people of that community voted on it and agreed not to go to those business because it was in their collective best interest. If your governor gave the OK to keep Walmart and McDonalds open it's because you as a community decided they were more valuable and important than the taco truck.
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Maybe if the market were operating normally, but it's not. Small businesses are being forced to shut down by the government, not because consumers aren't choosing them. And small businesses don't have massive cash hordes to weather the storm. Big companies do.

The small businesses were shut down because the community didn't value them. If they did than the governor would have made them an exception. These CEO's and entrepreneurs want free market until something makes the market act 'abnormal'. How do we know the market is abnormal? Because these people lost money. We need to stop going around acting like helping business retain control is in the best interest of those being controlled.

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The problem with a doctor is that he doesn’t think like an economist and the problem with an economist is that he doesn’t think like a doctor. Ultimately, I don’t see one as being any more right than the other.

And yet the economists are grossly overpaid and the doctors are grossly underpaid.
 
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To anyone who would never want this.
I hope you will enjoy keeping your total privacy as you are in hospital on a ventilator on the verge of dying at any moment.
Also be proud that, due to your selfish choices you may have infected others who may die, as there will be no record of you being near them as you were passing your infection to them.

Seriously, there's no need for dramatic red herrings. The people that are against this don't want to see anybody die anymore than you do. They simply believe the fallout from sacrificing our privacy will ultimately be worse than the fallout from the virus. If we keep down this path, sooner or later all this data and surveillance technology will fall into the wrong hands, and our worst Orwellian nightmare is going to come true. History repeats itself over and over and over, and the number of deaths at the hands of tyrannical governments are second to none.
 
I know the majority of readers here want to believe that technology is going to save the day, but contact tracing is at best an inexact science. Tile can’t find my keys when they are 3 feet away. So if your phone says you crossed paths with an infected person, are you going to self isolate for 14 days? What if it happens 3 times in 1 week? And all of this assumes that other people are voluntarily reporting their status. A whole bunch of iffs, and an extraordinary invasion of privacy, for what benefit?
 
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The businesses that were asked to shut down were the ones that were deemed unessential by the community. The people of that community voted on it and agreed not to go to those business because it was in their collective best interest. If your governor gave the OK to keep Walmart and McDonalds open it's because you as a community decided they were more valuable and important than the taco truck.
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I'm going to guess you don't live in the US. The community's opinions were not considered when the governor decided what was essential and what wasn't. I was not asked my opinion of keeping Walmart and McDonald's open while closing the family businesses. There wasn't a vote on that. The governor decided on his own, with guidance from the CDC and the federal government. So no. The community did NOT "decide that Walmart and McDonalds were more valuable and important than the taco truck". If it was up to the community...everything would probably be open right now. Simply because people NEED TO WORK! We have thousands of people in my town out of work right now and they can't even get unemployment money from the state because the state government completely botched the process. Which is precisely why people here don't see this stay-at-home order lasting any longer than MAYBE the end of May. People can't afford to be out of work for much longer, and when their money runs out...they aren't going to care about this virus because they NEED to work so they can afford to keep their house and buy food. The state as a whole can't even afford to have most of it's workers out of work for too much longer. We were one of the first states to shut down...and we will probably be one of the first to reopen for business, regardless of the severity of the situation. Simply because this shut down...is NOT sustainable. For the people or the state as a whole. We will probably be one of the first states that will be forced to make the extremely risky decision to find a middle ground between risking illness...and getting people back to work.

I would love to know if anyone here was asked by the government about what they value as an essential business and therefore what should stay open and what should close. Because where I live...we weren't asked what we value and what we don't as an "essential business". Because I can tell you right now...the majority of the people in my state do NOT believe that liquor and weed stores are an "essential", and they have made that opinion abundantly clear to the governor. But they're open because the governor has some skin in the revenue game. If they close...he (personally) loses money. He even refuses to close hotels that are owned by him and his family, despite the fact that they aren't even being used right now. If it were up to us...liquor stores and weed stores would be closed, while some of the other things that ARE closed...would be open.
 
I'm going to guess you don't live in the US. The community's opinions were not considered when the governor decided what was essential and what wasn't. I was not asked my opinion of keeping Walmart and McDonald's open while closing the family businesses. There wasn't a vote on that. The governor decided on his own, with guidance from the CDC and the federal government. So no. The community did NOT "decide that Walmart and McDonalds were more valuable and important than the taco truck". If it was up to the community...everything would probably be open right now. Simply because people NEED TO WORK! We have thousands of people in my town out of work right now and they can't even get unemployment money from the state because the state government completely botched the process. Which is precisely why people here don't see this stay-at-home order lasting any longer than MAYBE the end of May. People can't afford to be out of work for much longer, and when their money runs out...they aren't going to care about this virus because they NEED to work so they can afford to keep their house and buy food. The state as a whole can't even afford to have most of it's workers out of work for too much longer. We were one of the first states to shut down...and we will probably be one of the first to reopen for business, regardless of the severity of the situation. Simply because this shut down...is NOT sustainable. For the people or the state as a whole. We will probably be one of the first states that will be forced to make the extremely risky decision to find a middle ground between risking illness...and getting people back to work.

I would love to know if anyone here was asked by the government about what they value as an essential business and therefore what should stay open and what should close. Because where I live...we weren't asked what we value and what we don't as an "essential business". Because I can tell you right now...the majority of the people in my state do NOT believe that liquor and weed stores are an "essential", and they have made that opinion abundantly clear to the governor. But they're open because the governor has some skin in the revenue game. If they close...he (personally) loses money. He even refuses to close hotels that are owned by him and his family, despite the fact that they aren't even being used right now. If it were up to us...liquor stores and weed stores would be closed, while some of the other things that ARE closed...would be open.

In an attempt to be brief I may have been unclear. That information was collected when you voted for them.
 
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Not sure whether you’re referring to the size or significance of the data, or both, but everything is random (and therefore anonymous) and the keys/identifiers are very small. Many thousands can fit in one megabyte.

We know the data is significant because it's potentially capable of restraining the spread of a highly infectious disease. That's the whole point. The question is whether they're able to isolate the information necessary to solve that problem from our personal identities and other information we prefer not to share.

Random doesn't necessarily imply anonymous. The truth is all of the identifiers are being generated by the same device, and they're being shared among other devices with a correlation time of at least 15 minutes. The identifiers have faint personal information embedded in them, we just hope that that information can't be reconstructed.

In the context of the rest of my comment, my point is that I agree there was a sizable effort made to design a safe system but we don't know how bullet proof it is at this point. We see systems that were designed to be secure cracked all the time. Certainly a coordinated attack utilizing multiple devices could deconstruct the information. The random identifier needs to be independently generated but globally unique which means they either need to include some data unique to the device or risk collisions. Maybe they've made the risk of collisions suitably small and are willing to accept a few false alarms-- I haven't looked into the documents enough to know. Maybe it's generated by time stamp and random number and someone finds that the random number generators on a device have a correlation to timestamp and can be reassociated with enough data to work from.

So yes, I feel generally better about the whole idea, in particular I like that the information doesn't appear to be maintained by a central authority but resides on your device until you choose to publish it-- which means the only risk occurs when there's a corresponding potential benefit or if a coordinated surveillance effort is made utilizing multiple devices. But I don't take it at face value that this information is completely anonymous and secure, and the threat of a coordinated effort isn't negligible in many parts of the world.

Seriously, there's no need for dramatic red herrings. The people that are against this don't want to see anybody die anymore than you do. They simply believe the fallout from sacrificing our privacy will ultimately be worse than the fallout from the virus. If we keep down this path, sooner or later all this data and surveillance technology will fall into the wrong hands, and our worst Orwellian nightmare is going to come true. History repeats itself over and over and over, and the number of deaths at the hands of tyrannical governments are second to none.

Not even that the fallout would be worse, but just wanting to ensure that a better solution to the same end isn't being overlooked. Very often the knee jerk reaction is "know everything there is to know, it's our only hope!", when it's equally possible to solve a problem in a manner that has a much more limited impact.
 
In an attempt to be brief I may have been unclear. That information was collected when you voted for them.
Considering he lied his way through his campaign...not exactly. His handling of this situation in particular...has drawn significant criticism and disdain...even from the people who voted for him. He's had a slight shift in attitude this past week because he seems to have realized that his days in office are numbered because it doesn't sound like past supporters will support him again. He's not even on the same page as other politicians in the state. He says one thing...and almost everyone else says something different.

I have a personal beef with him. I didn't like him to begin with...and I didn't vote for him because I didn't trust him. His handling of this situation and the choices he's made...has made me (a healthcare worker who feels completely abandoned and ignored by our leadership) dislike him even more. He has had a few opportunities to show that he supports us...and blew those opportunities. And he then goes on to blame those blown opportunities on Trump. (And no...I don't like Trump either. I don't think he's doing a good job of handling this situation either). He even defends other state leaders who do things that the rest of us would be fined or arrested for right now.
 
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So let me fully understand this.
You mean, as an owner of a phone you don't want to know if you have been in close proximity to a infections person, so you can be warned and get tested in case you are now carrying the virus and may pass it onto your family?

You'd rather not know, and put your family at risk?
 
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So let me fully understand this.
You mean, as an owner of a phone you don't want to know if you have been in close proximity to a infections person, so you can be warned and get tested in case you are now carrying the virus and may pass it onto your family?

You'd rather not know, and put your family at risk?
Nobody's identity or values is summed up as "owner of a phone".

Problem begins right there with anybody thinking with blinkers like that.
 
I hope everyone's concerns are alleviated, but once again, combating the virus isn't about you. IT's about those around you and the community. It's sad to see that when events require us to come together as a community, everyone can't think beyond themselves.

This will only work if poeple trust it and I hope Google / Apple does a good job communicating that.
This is where I see the problem being. I would confidently say that a majority of people trust Apple. But the majority do NOT trust Google. Given the option, I won't be opting in. But I DO think that people might be more willing if this was only Apple doing it (but that brings with it the issue of it only working for Apple devices). Adding Google into the mix kind of sours it for me.

Succinctly put, both of you.

Communication from BOTH Google and Apple, not just separately, and it must be as a whole ... yet even with Global governmental support ... this would be HUGE! Assuring a global oversight committee of government security panelists even for continued scrutiny would push this along perfectly ( I think).

Once we all understand the greater good, as well as (not to mention assurance that NSA will not meddle, lol) trust that the current worlds internet use is modelled after WebKit ( 'started within Apple by Don Melton on June 25, 2001, as a fork of KHTML') and it's Google fork of it is used by the entire world (desktop or mobile browsers on ANY platform ... maybe this would help not just the trust but form a unification of standards and eliminate all the junk that's been causing the FUD of internet usage.

I'm REALLY curious how Sir Tim Berners Lee feels about this latest endeavor?
 
Nobody's identity or values is summed up as "owner of a phone".

Problem begins right there with anybody thinking with blinkers like that.

as far as I am aware, after listening to a podcast about this topic today was that, if the "system" detected that you're phone was in close proximity of someone with the virus, THEN you would get a notification and then you can take action.
 
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as far as I am aware, after listening to a podcast about this topic today was that, if the "system" detected that you're phone was in close proximity of someone with the virus, THEN you would get a notification and then you can take action.
As far as I am aware no one summarizes their entire identity and values as "owner of a phone". Let's begin there.
 
as far as I am aware, after listening to a podcast about this topic today was that, if the "system" detected that you're phone was in close proximity of someone with the virus, THEN you would get a notification and then you can take action.

So what action would you take? Would you self isolate for 14 days because your phone’s bluetooth said you were nearby someone who says they were infected? Tile can’t find my keys when they are 3 feet away, I’m not convinced that this is anything more than a PR science project.
 
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Disease is a human condition and has no nationality. But if you want to point fingers at governments, its better to ask what is the value of a government that treats health as a luxury good and has no concept of a public interest in health and wellbeing.

But in any case what Snowden revealed a decade ago is that the US government has never needed any additional excuse to spy on people. One would think Apple should understand that...

If you're pushing the universal healthcare angle, just don't. I come from a country with THE universal healthcare system, with a sister who works in it and all I will say is I'm glad to be paying my own reasonable costs and taxes for healthcare in the US.

Universal healthcare on a scale of the US with its incredibly inefficient bureaucracy and layers of government would be a disaster. Not too mention your taxes would be crippling. I left my country to get away from that sort of thing.

Every country spies, at least in yours you have constitutionally enshrined rights like free speech and freedom of the press. Try living in a country where the Police come to your door for Twitter thoughtcrimes, or are charged with a criminal offense for making jokes on Youtube. Not too mention the UK spies on its citizens to a frightening degree with virtually no limits like you have in the US.
 
I know some people are going to lose their minds about this, but I think it's awesome.

Everything is tradeoffs and people who try to maintain ideological purity above all else give up a lot. We can maintain privacy and stop diseases from spreading at the same time as long as neither needs to be 100% perfect.

Evolution already took care of the disease issue - you have an immune system that has been perfected over millions of years. It's not 100% effective, but pretty good. The larger threat is the extreme risk aversion that has taken hold of society. People seem to want action taken to mitigate every_single_risk. There is risk in living. Let's lose the face masks and plexiglass dividers at Target, stop taking our shoes off to fly, and get on with life.

The cure is worse than the disease (or virus).
 
as far as I am aware, after listening to a podcast about this topic today was that, if the "system" detected that you're phone was in close proximity of someone with the virus, THEN you would get a notification and then you can take action.
Interested to hear said podcast... which was it?
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On talking to a friend about this. I think Apple is about to real world test their AirTags technology...

Sound familiar https://9to5mac.com/2019/06/05/ios-13-macos-catalina-find-my/

Yep.. it was also detailed, here: https://www.wired.com/story/apple-find-my-cryptography-bluetooth/
 
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