It sounds good, but ...
There's a new app out that promises to provide secure, privacy oriented, covid-19 tracing warnings to users who opt in. If you get close to another user who has tested positive and agreed to anonymously tip people off that they have been exposed, you will get an alert, but only that you were recently near somebody who tested positive.
Wherever you go, the app will seek out phones within 6 feet with the app activated and send them a randomized anonymous ID number, and store all of those transmitted by other phones to it. Should one of those other phone's belong to a person who tests positive and opts to alert people at risk some sort of centralized transmission will alert those with phones that stored that user's anonymous ID number during the relevant period.
The app has been tested at two UC campuses and now will be introduced at most of the rest. There is an article on it here: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-campuses-pilot-app-covid-19
OK, about the privacy and anonymity. Two words - "Google" and "Apple".
The opt-in system, which uses Google/Apple Exposure Notification (GAEN) technology on smartphones, is designed to supplement existing contact tracing protocols to further help limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It will become available statewide in December.
Do you trust them and their personnel, especially if the Feebs decide that they don't like something you wrote or checked out from the library and wish to search all of your contacts and potential contacts, or if you come up in a fishing expedition they launched against somebody who was in the grocery story check-out line behind you one day?
Other questions:
Based on the description above, this app must run in backgound 24-7. Speed of every other use? Battery life?
It allegedly uses blue tooth, which has a limited range, so the alert message must roll through the entire user base repeatedly in order to ensure that everybody needing an alert eventually gets it, unless you maybe call a central number daily or something. What happens to everything else you are using blue tooth for, like your headphones? Doesn't the apps security also depend on Bluetooth's? How secure is Bluetooth?
Comments
in a more individually secured world
the blueteeth enabled Siri would inform us
we are being monitored real time while not
harshly sending the message, as to disturb
the song playing in the buds
Heh. My new truck is Bluetooth enabled. I can't wait
to hear shit on the radio like "the maroon Chevy passing on your left has two Covid positive occupants".
be well and have and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
cool beans
actually do not even know what a blue tooth is enabled to expedite
had a 63 blueish dodge D-100 once. I think it spoke to me on several
occasions after replacing the slant 6. We were buddys.
Took a Tesla for test ride. It's basically a big I-pad connected to two
electric motors. Felt like driving in outer space. The salesman asked
if we wanted to use the autopilot feature. NO F'ING WAY!
In a rainstorm on the Interstate decided to turn this rocket ship around
Punched a couple buttons and the wide screen showed us how to get back
to the dealership. The craft set down without too much trouble. Somehow I
pushed the wrong button and drenched the assistant with water from the
wiper blades. Oh well.
Went straight for the nearest liquid refreshment joint and decided we are truly
beyond Star Trek modes of transportation.
So what does the blue tooth do for you?
Should I choose to so use it I can ask it to change stations
or play something from my phone or call my bail bondsman or answer my cell phone, Because I don't have navigation enabled, it won't help with that. I usually just plug my phone into the USB port which enables all of the above plus google maps/navigation and puts up a map display. It is difficult to buy a vehicle without it, especially back earlier in the pandemic when you couldn't order custom. (I bought it for a tow vehicle, and then we sold the trailer, ah well, not everybody has a hemi powered grocery cart.)
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
hemi powered grocery carts
see them all the time in parking lots
during our frequent wind storms
always wondered what was steering those
little devils towards my blind side
but yeah, if you can use your smart phone to
run all of those ancient human functions
why not let the digital world do it
what concerns me is people stop leaning how to use
those skills and instead use the artificial intelligence
electromagnetic pulse comes to mind as being able to
make all this connected hardware mute
then, where would we be?
Afoot, among other things. Also offline. Wonder if my old
Walkman would still work.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
the blue tooth is giving me headaches, stomach cramps,
temper tantrum and the desire to trash my car. I hate cars that are smarter than me and tell me so, constantly. All I want is that they shut up. I don't use any of the features my car is said to have. I can't stop him to tell me when I drive more than 30 kilometers per hour. Frigging idiot of a car. If I drive faster than 30 km per hour where I am not supposed to do so, it is my business and I certainly don't do what that stupid car tells me to do.
I'll take the train and bus whenever I can. Of course now with Covid etc. it is all about not driving at all, just the errands that have to be done.
I use my phone's google map to navigate to anywhere from nowhere. There is a friendly female voice which tells me exactly which streets to drive, when to turn right in 300 meters or when to continue for five miles straight ahead, when to take the exit, actually if she had a little humor, she probably would tell me when to take a pee at the next opportunity...
Without the google map feature on my phone I would not have survived driving to places I had to go and had no idea where they were. It was hard enough to get used to German traffic and streets compared to the US. I by default always drove not faster than 90 miles per hour and Germans get furious if I drive that slow and really chase me away, honk, give me the middle finger and sometimes I fear they would just love to give me a little kick in the butt of my car. I hate driving highways in Germany.
Google maps on my phone was actually my savior in finding my way around anywhere in Germany. That's the only feature I like about google maps.
Other than that, why not just being a little fatalistic and learn to live with virus. There is very little one can do and the little bit that seems to be reasonable is nothing much at all.
Why would you like to become a slave of some frigging IT technology that so far hasn't saved us from poverty, wars, injustice or anything else worthwhile to have?
End of rant.
There is probably a keyword or phrase that would get
the nice lady to tell you the nearest place to safely take a pee, but I don't have any idea what it might be. As frequent long distance road travelers, I found us an app to tell us where the next rest stop is, another to tell us what is off the next off ramp, and another, believe it or not, the location of the nearest bathroom; "take exit whatever north and follow whatsis road 2.5 miles to doofus county park, the baños are at the NW and SE corners".
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
lol, don't worry, I have some old age medical issues
and pee on my own schedule.
Sorry, I should behave properly and not comment.
Oh no no no, that was one of the best comments of the
day. This is, at lest as far as my stuff goes, a reality based zone which needs both humor and acknowledgement of what is important in life whether it be wisdom, coffee, serenity or the nearest bathroom.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Your tolerance level towards me knows no limits today !
Thank You, dear friend I want to say, without imposing my feelings upon you.
I just pray for change for the better angles to appear.
Siri is easy to get rid of.
Not long after buying the iPhone 11 when I was back in the states last year I told her to fuck off after the 137th time she barged into something I was doing. She's not spoken since telling me that wasn't nice. No, probably not but it did what I wanted unlike her most of the time.
Did that mean I'm a racist?
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
soon as I fired up
my new (used) Mac book pro wanted me to engage the Siri function.
Had to go online to figure it out.
Turns out you can't fully unhook it in this OS. It doesn't bug me, but stays on in the background.
Do we really need an unpaid assistant?
Glad you figured out to tell it F/O!
assistant? or spy?
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
I had issues with Carplay
for about 18 months. Using Google Maps (forget Apple's Maps app...gag!) for navigation was sketchy until a couple months ago apparently one of the updates stopped Carplay from demanding Siri be turned on. Now I have nav displaying correctly whether I use the phone to control or the screen in the Kia. It's a big deal because there are no maps of Ecuador available for the Sportage which doesn't offer navigation or most of the standard features found everywhere else in the world. Learning a new city with strange street configurations and traffic management methods is daunting without a good electronic map.
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."
Hola vtcc73. I'm unfamiliar with Carplay.
My phone is an Android and works through something I recall as AndroidAuto. Before this vehicle we just used the phones (depending upon who was navigating) with google maps or other google directions. (google has about 4 ways to get navigation help on an android phone). I have massive amounts of roaming data for reasons and we picked our provider based on coverage, especially out in the desert.
It's funny, years ago we were in Italy with a couple who had the latest Garmin with the latest Europe and Italy maps and I had an old Xoom tablet that just used google maps and did a much better job than her fancy gadget.
I can't recall what device I had when we were in Ecuador, probably both a phone and a tablet. I know that Quito was a breeze and I could follow main roads and highways, like down to Termas Papillactas, but it was a guided birding tour, so I only needed it when we had free time in Quito and when we continued down to Guayaquil after it was over and I don't think we strayed far from the airport there until we flew out.
There is something called Maps.Me - don't know if it is available for apple, but they have downloadable, regularly updated maps of all kinds of places, I've used it at sea in the Caribbean and on some of the islands and all over Mexico and Baja, as well as all over the US too. It has the benefit of working offline and when there is no phone, because it is all on your device.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Unclean! Unclean! n/t
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
free association
unclean -?
dirty
what?
ancient cry of lepers
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
But of course there is an app!
There's an app for everything, why not this? Why not an app that spies on you 24/7 with not only your permission but your complete willingness and zeal to beat back that virus and identify all those supremely selfish bad, bad others who might have it because they missed wearing a mask one time at the store or wherever else their selfish ass went without one, heaven forbid! Never mind the surveillance implications, why that's just for our own good, don't we know that by now? Can we use it to call the cops if that nasty person within 6 feet of us isn't currently wearing a mask? Why, I am willing to bet that is a big fat yes, how about you?
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Yes
tracked and traced for the benefit
of untold information
be safe
Don't think phone technology and battery power is up to the
task yet, so I bet no, for now at any rate. Of course, you could use the keypad to do since it is a phone, assuming that it is illegal and that the store staff hasn't already given them a mask or escorted them out. The problem there is who to call. You can't call 911 because it isn't an emergency so you call 411 and ask for the local constabulary and then call that? In my county, at the moment, one cannot get very far into a store without one so it is pretty much moot, and I'd rather that the cops stayed outside busting folks for driving while texting.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Not all of us have slavePhones...
...call me a sloppy reader or whatever if I've missed this (I do seem to have visual processing problems), but what/how does this affect those of us who've basically called bullshit on all "technology" that came out after the iPod?
I grew up in Silicon Valley; the way people talk about it today...they're describing a place I simply don't recognize. Something's beyond wrong with that underappreciated discrepancy alone.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
It would appear that if you lack a so-called smart phone
you won't be able to use the technology in question. I eschewed them for a long time, then broke down and got a brick for use as an emergency phone during our frequent extended trailer trips. Then one day one of my in-laws used his to quickly find the location of and directions to 1) the nearest pharmacy, 2) the nearest bar and 3) the nearest deli and I was pretty much sold.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Of course I can't USE it...
...the question is, will I be subjected to the dragnet anyway (not that I'm very concerned about my own contamination, living the Boo Radley-like lifestyle that I do these days and even having spent the first few months of the pandemic in the hinterlands of Australia), or would I be a ghost?
The latter would reveal a pretty serious and fundamental flaw with this app - if it's NOT blatantly totalitarian, then it hardly works at all and would likely even wind up counterproductive.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
I suspect you would be a ghost. Another flaw is that it is
currently strictly voluntary. Let's say I have the app, hoping for advance warning if I have intersected my personal space with that of an infected person, and at some point come down with the virus from mysterious sources. I have to tell my phone 1) I've got covid and 2) it has my permission to alert all those I've been in contact with. Let's say that I've been pretty boo radley myself outside of a brief visit with some Far Right Dominionist in-laws. I just might think to myself "enhydra old buddy, why don't we just keep quiet and see if their god gives them a heads up" and then nobody I've crossed paths with gets any alerts.
I can see. however, that in a large college community, like maybe UCLA, people might decide to use the app and use it as intended so that if they come down with it the word goes out to everybody they've intersected paths with, the vast majority of whom they almost certainly won't know.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The bluetooth enhanced contact tracing is a good thing
Hi Guys -- @enhydra1 I know something about this technology and on balance I would say it is a positive development and would have been more positive if deployed in February so we could have stopped the initial spread. When you have as many cases as we have now, enhanced contact tracing may be hopeless.
Anyhoo -- here is how I believe it works. Bluetooth regularly sends "beacons" which allow discovery by nearby devices. As I understand it, these beacons are always on (which answers the question about battery life, it should not be drained anymore than normal bluetooth use). The "short range" that is mentioned is a feature, not a bug. It turns out that if someone is in Bluetooth range (nominally 30 feet), then they are (conservatively) in virus range. Each phone stores the beacons of all the other phones that come near to it. In fact, it times how long the other phone was near it and only stores the beacons if it was there longer than 10 or 15 minutes (depends on medical advice). The beacons are stored locally. Enhydra wondered if the infected person's phone would need to "call in". In fact,
if person X tests positive, they have to tell their phone about it. If they do, then the
phone's beacons get sent over the net (via Wifi or Cell Data, NOT via Bluetooth) to the application server, which then sends those beacons to all the app users. It's like announcing Lotto numbers on the radio.
If your phone recognizes a beacon from user X then "you win" -- you've been exposed. From a security POV, the beacons ARE unique to the device but they ALSO do not contain any of your personally identifiable information. (Your ethernet cards all have MAC addresses which are unique -- but they say nothing about who you are).
Why is this good? Wouldn't it be nice to actually KNOW you were exposed to someone COVID positive ... or conversely, that you had gone about your life for a week and had NOT been exposed? If with a real President we could actually get testing cycle times to 24 hours you could concievably know about an exposure the next day. That is enough time to really make a difference in your behaviour, and transmission.
Why do I know this?
I was not on the development team, but I was a Silicon Valley engineering director (hardware ... we made stuff ... not Facebook -- which is an abomination) back when Bluetooth came out around 2000 and we looked at it for our products. (Now I am an academic, so firmly back in the 99% ... probably struggling with 50%).
I hope this helps show that there could be value here and it does not have to be nefarious.
Australia, BTW deployed this exact system, called "COVIDSAFE" NATIONWIDE in late February,
showing that they had a functioning government, even if it is owned by a bunch of fossil fuel funded religious zealots wankers just like ours.
Now having said that -- It seems it did not do them all that much good ... though since their problem is so small, that's hard to say.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/24/how-did-the-covidsafe-app-go-from-being-vital-to-almost-irrelevant
Do not let the plutocrats divide us!
nize avatar, btw
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good evening Hopeful. Thanks for all of the information and
answers.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Evening el
Currently, NZ has a Covid tracer app that one can install on their phone. It’s not as invasive as the one you are referring to. All NZ businesses and services must display the official NZ covid tracer code at their business location. If one chooses to scan themselves into the shop or cafe, etc, they can. It’s optional. At the same time the government is trialing something similar to what you’ve addressed in this post ...
The current app has made a difference in containing community transfer because it makes contact tracing faster and more efficient in giving notice to people who may have been in contact with someone infected by covid.
New Zealand has managed the spread of the virus quite well relatively. Life in general is as close to 'normal' as one can expect during this potentially overwhelming time. Most businesses, with the exception of the travel industry are faring well, though it has helped a little that more kiwis are travelling within the country instead of overseas. More importantly we can now be present at the birth of babies and the death of a loved one. But this is still, and will be for a long time, a work in progress subject again to sacrifices that are questionable.
Good morning Janis. Thanks for the information. NZ
could definitely be a model for us all, but it is way late in the game for the US to suddenly start behaving reasonably. Besides, we have way too many cults, not all of which are religious. Recently ran into one who wouldn't ever think of masking because it was cowardly, and many other forms of crazy. Ah well, it will be seriously weird here for some time, a phony economy built on speculation, extraction and warfare whose actors are being catered to by hordes of underpaid servants with the whole thing now propped up by unbelievable amounts of corporate welfare. I don't think "back to normal" is in the cards.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
As diverse a population that is NZ,
it is also modest in number. I think that makes a significant difference. The US is anything but united, largely because of the size of its population.
I think the US would be better off, on the whole, if it were divided into seperate territories, with completely seperate governance.
Or, you could just stay home.
The German government has launched a satiric Public Service ad that reminisces about Covid-19. It suggests there is a simple way to stop the virus, without all the complaining and protests over restrictions. And without al the annoying science and technology.
A social Hero looks back at the Corona years....
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Good morning Pluto. Great PSA clip, thanks for posting it.
We need a few like that here.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --