Honestly the only thing lower than congresses approval ratings is the republicans in Congress approval ratings. But congress did not avoid pandemic response, that is clearly affixed as a responsibility of the executive branch. Some members of Congress have been imploring the administration to do the right thing for months. They even approved and funded a pandemic response group (disbanded in 2018) and approved the embedding of cdc staff in 39 countries own versions of the cdc (disbanded in July 2019). So we could have been warned a few weeks earlier and we could have responded appropriately, all nothing to do with congress
U.S. Senators Question Apple CEO Tim Cook About COVID-19 App Privacy
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rgbrock1
Suspended
In case you hadn't noticed, EVERY government on the face of the Earth - aside from a very few - failed to control a pandemic. However, it is the Chinese government which lied, and continues to lie, about its severity and the resulting numbers.
The other thing I find ironic is that Congress would jump for joy at the idea of tracking our phone movements to know if we're abiding by social distancing. (Which with a good argument could fit under a privacy violation) But they're questioning someone else about privacy? My state is tracking us somehow, because they have been able to put out maps of which counties are doing a better job of following the rules...and the maps are based on phone location data.
rgbrock1
Suspended
Including Richard "Stolen Valor" Blumenthal. After that little charade he should hang his head in shame and shut his pie hole, permanently.
My BS meter started going through the roof as soon as I saw Kamala Harris's name in this story. Literally anything she's involved in...should cause suspicion and be looked at under a microscope. I spent enough years living in California to know not to trust her. At all.
centauratlas
macrumors 68000
At least with this kind of app, Apple is attempting to do something positive. Frankly, I don't trust any of these four (or of many more than just them!) as far as I can throw them.
Given all these elected officials have had decades to prepare for this type of thing and the WHO, CDC (and other country's equivalents), US state emergency managers, hospital administrators have also, I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.
The WHO and CDC were saying even in mid/late January that it wasn't being transmitted person to person, they were wrong or lying. They've been averring for the same amount of time that masks and face covers weren't effective and now are about to reverse themselves, why would anyone believe them? Ditto all the administrators at the WHO, CDC, state and local governments and hospitals were too shortsighted and moronic to think that perhaps they'd need more equipment.
They all had decades to do be ready for this and hundreds of billions of dollars to spend on it over the decades and they've failed miserably. The politicians have failed at their jobs to to monitor what these so-called experts were doing and now they are sniping at Apple for a potential HIPAA violation? Talk about terrible priorities.
Frankly, I trust Apple and this app millions of times more than I trust any of the politicians and their lackey "experts". So I'd prefer if they stayed out of Apple's business and looked in the mirror.
Given all these elected officials have had decades to prepare for this type of thing and the WHO, CDC (and other country's equivalents), US state emergency managers, hospital administrators have also, I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.
The WHO and CDC were saying even in mid/late January that it wasn't being transmitted person to person, they were wrong or lying. They've been averring for the same amount of time that masks and face covers weren't effective and now are about to reverse themselves, why would anyone believe them? Ditto all the administrators at the WHO, CDC, state and local governments and hospitals were too shortsighted and moronic to think that perhaps they'd need more equipment.
They all had decades to do be ready for this and hundreds of billions of dollars to spend on it over the decades and they've failed miserably. The politicians have failed at their jobs to to monitor what these so-called experts were doing and now they are sniping at Apple for a potential HIPAA violation? Talk about terrible priorities.
Frankly, I trust Apple and this app millions of times more than I trust any of the politicians and their lackey "experts". So I'd prefer if they stayed out of Apple's business and looked in the mirror.
The REPUBLICANS failed! Fixed that for ya there.
bandalay
macrumors regular
Looking busy?
Yah? Korea was the benchmark, the us is supposed to be the most capable, and would have been, if our budgets and staff hadn’t been cut in 2018 and 2019, and we hadn’t absolutely ignored the absolute basics in 2020
China may have some quirky politics about reporting, but that is completely irrelevant. The issue was discovered in November, and if our embedded CDC staff was still in China,?would have alerted the top levels of us government. As it was it was being investigated in December and finally conclusively determined to be a problem and reported to the WHO as such (the US did nothing for months).
Even if China lied about its internal numbers, this would not have effected any other country
Korea and the US both recorded their first cases on the same day. Korea took smart action, the US did nothing.
No amount of blame game and finger pointing changes that. The USproblem was not caused by China lying, but by inept response in the US
chucker23n1
macrumors G3
Those senators don't work for the executive branch, though. Nor are they in the same party. They probably agree with you that the executive's reaction wasn't great.
jayducharme
macrumors 601
Interesting how they're suddenly concerned whether Apple is guarding the privacy of citizens, when for years the government has been trying to get a backdoor into Apple's OS.
CarlJ
Contributor
Congress is asking. It is reasonable to ask. Apple will give reasonable answers.
Emanuel Rodriguez
macrumors 6502
A lot of mistakes were made. Then there're the states which allowed their stockpiles to remain empty, ignoring the warnings they were receiving, because they had other pet projects they were more interested in spending money on.
This country as a whole was not prepared, and it's a lesson for us all to learn. Certainly pointing fingers at one another is not the best solution, unless doing that can somehow combat this illness. Perhaps if that finger is coated in hand sanitizer?
lkalliance
macrumors 65816
9to5Mac has tested the app:
9to5mac.com
They didn't detect any transmissions to either Apple or to third parties; they claim the only network usage was to download images.
US senators are asking Apple how private their COVID-19 app is, so we tested it - 9to5Mac
Apple launched its user-friendly and helpful COVID-19 screening app and website last week. Even though the company publicly detailed it...
9to5mac.com
They didn't detect any transmissions to either Apple or to third parties; they claim the only network usage was to download images.
Or are they questioning Zoom, which is being used for tele health care visits? Zoom was sending info to Facebook and is apparently being hacked right and left.
DocMultimedia
macrumors 68020
You can answer six questions in an app. You can’t get a true test in America unless you are brought in for a medical reason. We are significantly behind many other countries at this point in time.
Dwalls90
macrumors 603
It's harder to bring two parties together in Congress to do their job effectively, when you have someone striving for divisiveness at the helm.
farewelwilliams
Suspended
Cory Booker still mad that no one voted for him
CarlJ
Contributor
Only the Chinese? The head of our government has lied, and continues to lie (along with spending much of the press conferences patting himself on the back and berating everyone else).
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Apple knows who owns the device, likely who biometrically authenticated on the device a few moments ago. I am absolutely not suggesting that they're combining that data with the personal health questions being asked. But it is reasonable for those who have oversight on such things (i.e. congress) to ask, on the record, precisely how this is being handled, and to get answers, on the record. Apple has been through this before with other questions from congress. They will answer reasonably.
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lkalliance
macrumors 65816
9to5Mac has tested and confirmed that the app doesn't communicate anything to Apple or to third parties; the only network connection is to download images. You're right, Congress should ask about it, and I expect Apple will demonstrate what 9to5Mac found.
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You know, I wonder if Zoom falls under HIPAA guidance. I don't know if they are positioning themselves as a medical service. If the clinic or doctor that is using them for telehealth is doing so at its own discretion out of convenience, with no assurances from Zoom that it is HIPAA compliant, then I'm not sure Zoom is the one that would get in trouble.
On the other hand, responsible medical institutions would have vetted Zoom first anyway. Perhaps Zoom offers them something that isn't part of their normal service, something buttoned up tighter. If Zoom had a service exclusively for doctors, then I would guess they WOULD come under governmental supervision. I don't know, just thinking out loud.
yaxomoxay
macrumors 604
Without going to much into the politics of it - especially because kinda all parties are to blame for their early response... of all governments in the world! I mean, just check what Conte and Fontana were doing in Italy, or De Blasio in NYC etc - the truth is that there is no way to have an appropriate early response.
I do believe that we wasted a good week or two for the production of masks and respirators (and that's both at Federal and State level), and the depletion of the stockpile during the Obama's administration didn't certainly help. However, how the heck do you respond to something like this? Seriously, what do you do, especially considering that this thing has been around the globe since December (thanks China for lying)? Until the problem actually happens, and until it's visible, there is no single democracy that can do much. Trump declared the health emergency back in January - this is prior to all the mess in Europe, and that was already a hot topic because of the travel restrictions.
People have to realize that no democratic government can't take strong actions, such as limiting the movement and rights of healthy and innocent people, based on statistical projections. Not only it's illegal, but it's incredibly dangerous.
I don't think this is the time to do recriminations. No one is perfect, and whoever is in power (Congress, Executive, in the US or otherwise) is bound to make huge mistakes. This thing is a true beast, and it hit everyone, everywhere by surprise.
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That's because it's virtually impossible to do with a beast like that, especially with China's lies.
CarlJ
Contributor
I'm informed that Zoom offers a version to institutions that is supposedly "HIPAA Compliant". I don't know what changes this entails, if any (presumably if it was "we take out all the creepy bad stuff and security bugs", they could do that for the regular version too). (I know university staff who were not in on the choice of Zoom, but are acquainted with those who were.)
It also sounds like one of the big problems has been people setting up sessions with no passwords, "because it's easier for people that way" (easier for ne'er-do-wells too).
lkalliance
macrumors 65816
Oh, interesting. Then they're flat-out making the claim. Wow, if what they are offering really is compliant, then it's got to be MUCH MUCH more secure than the consumer one!