Will you download the Covid19 Location App?

I've looked at how the technology works. It's not tracking your movement, it's tracking who you come into contact with. There's actually a lot in place to avoid the government 'big brother' scenario that people are afraid of.

I won't be installing it.

It's not because I'm afraid of the government tracking movements or contacts. The systems is quite clever and available address these concerns very well. I won't install it because of how other third parties can collect data.

The system works by your phone broadcasting a temporary identifier using Bluetooth Low Energy technology. Anyone can pick up the signal and log it. Whilst the government may not be able to track your location, a shopping centre could easily log which shops you visit, for how long, over a period of time such as a week or three. Whilst this is already being done on some level by the likes of Google, Apple, Facebook, etc, this opens up movement tracking on a far larger scale.

Secondly I'm not convinced that Bluetooth technology is entirely secure. A primary mode of security is by not announcing your presence, but this broadcasts an, "I'm here", signal. I wonder how this can be exploited.

I like the government's intention and even how they plan to use this app, but it creates a lot of exposure to other parties as well. In this case it's not the government I worry about, it's everyone else that can exploit it.

 

Im open to learning from this discussion. Can someone answer a couple of questions for me.
How can this app remove our freedom and, keeping in mind we are not a communist country, what scenarios could it lead to?
Secondly, how is the data collected/broadcasted by this app a problem in the hands of third parties? Given the data collected by Facebook, Google, cctv, AI, governments etc already, how is this app a step up and what scenarios could it lead too?
We are not talking about a chip under the skin here, we can just leave our phones at home or off. This app could lead to a return of our normal 'freedoms' whilst protecting public health and the economy at once.

 

Note Australia isn’t using the (more privacy friendly) version proposed by Apple and Google. I noted a few people saying they had reviewed the proposal - I assume this is referring to the Google/Apple proposal.

I agree with the comments re illusion of privacy... its only really the illusion that exists. Digital privacy itself is long dead. Don’t forget we had a PM telling us he intended to use a VPN and recommended others did too.

For a comical look at the topic and their latest extension check out:

Honest Government Ad | Ass Access (anti-encryption law) - The Juice Media

Whilst this is satirical.... it’s worth noting this was legislated late last year. Have a read of the legislation itself if you are bored.

 

Just a couple minutes ago The government services minister made the announcement about the app. Unfortunately I only managed to listen the half of it. However this was the summary that I managed to extract from his speech.

1. Source code will be made open
2. The data is stored in the phone and not uploaded to the central database continuously
3. Only state health officials (not federal government) will have access to the data in your phone, if you get sick and allow them to use it
4. The data is stored only 21 days in your phone

There probably was much more important content, that i missed, but as said I just came across the press conference half way through. Soon the press conference will hopefully be 'streamable'. Is streamable even a real word, or did I just made it up ?

 

I'll be in for the greater good - just like I will agree to be vaccinated and get my kids vaccinated for the greater good even though we are low risk.
It doesn't need 100% uptake for it to be effective - so the non tech savvy won't destroy the system

 

As one article I read, if everyone who downloaded Pokemon Go downloads it, it will be effective.

 

Thumbs up for being open to having discussion

I'll answer your first question as it was probably referring to what I wrote earlier in this thread. The problematic thing with this app for some people (myself included) is explicitly giving the government rights to your privacy. You see, although I also find scary sharing my searches, locations, etc with Google, Facebook and the like, these companies do not have repressive system (police) at their disposal and cannot arrest me, prosecute me or take any actions like the state can. With this being said, I do not think that this particular app would lead to something like this, but in future this will be taken as a precedent and can be used in other situations because we agreed to it once. I have issue with this because our society is built on privacy as a fundamental human right and this is recognised in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights and in many other international and regional treaties.

Also, to stop anyone to try to call people with opinion like mine conspiracy theorists, let me make it clear I do not believe in any of those lunatic theories. However, with 6000 infected and 64 dead, I do not think it's sensible that 23 million of people in this country pave the path for relinquishing their fundamental right to privacy, and in fact I think it's outright dangerous - not because of what this app could do, but what will the repercussions of this be in future because we allowed this to go ahead.

 

OK.

There's a dealer in the Druitt.

It's Friday night. Goes to his supplier to pick up a few ounces.

Goes home and makes up his usual 50s and quarters.

Sits at home, has a few with his mates and waits for his orders to come through. Bingo, its 8 pm and the usual orders are coming in.

He uses an app to calculate the shortest route. He gets his mate to do several of the orders to lower his odds of getting busted. Pays his mate in kind. Everybody is happy.

Within a month, the supplier, dealer and third tier buyers are all busted and awaiting the magistrate.

Now, this is a classic example of how dangerous it would be to allow your movements to be traced! Where is the freedom?

 

Apparently it’s not so much a locator app, but instead an app that picks up/exchanges phone contact info for all other phone bluetooths in proximity.

So if Party A ends up with Corona, all the other phones with the app installed that were close enough to that phone during period X will be alerted and those people could consider being checked for Corona.

This is how I would imagine it would work anyway.

 

They should interface the two apps and create a "Covidosaur" bat looking character that shows up where the virus is. Then all the Pokemon enthusiasts would download, problem is they might go looking for infected people.

 

So using @datto's analogy:

That's how it'll work too.

 

Thankyou for your reply. I appreciate you taking the time to explain.
Its a good time for conspiracy theorists. Lots of wild theories are actually coming true ha ha.
For what its worth, Ill be downloading the app. Thanks too Zagi and Simon, Ill be making sure the app is very transparent and does not form any precedents. I believe it will help me protect the community around me and move us closer to regaining all the freedoms we are currently missing.

 

A govt minister said that the app wont trace people if having affairs or dealing drugs - how good is that?

 

Well that’s a load off. Thanks for that.

 

I've lost my phone.
I forget to turn it on
Battery flat
SIM card failed
OS old and app not compatible.

 

What's happens if they don't have a phone ..

 

Australians' data from COVID-19 tracing app to be held by US cloud giant Amazon

Amazon hey.

 

why wouldn't they support an Australian company?!