To find it scary that people have willingly downloaded the track and trace app?

[SunnyThatsMyName]

This all reminds me of the start of some sci-fi/thriller movie.
Why are people so easily giving away their details to this useless government?

@HarrietSchulenberg

I won't be using it as I work in a school and suspect that bored kids will log themselves as symptomatic to trigger an alert to everyone who'd been near them, meaning I'll be spending the next 2 years in isolation after isolation after isolation. The anonymity of it is the problem as you don't really know if an alert through the app is genuine or not.

what that is very strange setup

pretty sure our is not like that, only the T and T can raise an alert

Thanks, Sleipnir.

That article says that some data from the app will be kept for 20 years, but not that such data includes location.

According to the article, the data will be kept by Public Health England.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/28/nhs-will-keep-personal-data-of-people-with-coronavirus-for-20-years--uk-test-and-trace-programme
This information will be held securely by Public Health England and only used for purposes that help protect the public’s health from Covid-19.”

The privacy notice says: “The information needs to be kept for this long as may [sic] be needed to help control the spread of coronavirus, both currently and possibly in the future.

“It is held on PHE’s secure cloud environment, which is kept up to date to protect it from viruses and hacking. It can only be seen by those who have a specific and legitimate role in the response and who are working on the NHS Test and Trace. All these staff have been trained to protect people’s confidentiality.”

The devil is in the details. If the data includes only the same sorts of data my GP would have for a notifiable disease (contact info, DoB, medical condition, names of contacts), and is not used for any purpose other than working on Covid, then I might be OK about it.

Currently it's difficult for me to trust that this is what will happen.

Dominic Cummings is a big part of my lack of trust, because he has demonstrated an egregious attitude to our personal data and to data protection rules for years. He's not the only offender, of course, and getting rid of him wouldn't get rid of the problem. However he does have a long track record, andis currently in the heart of government and has been making grabs for our data since he got there.

If you have a smartphone, Facebook or apple account they already have your details

@BovaryX

Why do you find it anymore scary than everyone has downloaded Zoom? Nobody had heard of it a couple of months ago. Now? The Western world is recording every sniffle on this arriviste platform....

Everyone hasn't downloaded Zoom.

@SunnyThatsMyName YANBU

@CockCarousel yeah, gives the sheeple something to feel a faux superiority about.

Mobile phones ping every mast they pass. When police do investigations they can tell where people have been and sent messages from etc. I dont think the government have the time to stalk 66 million people, most of which lead fault boring lives and can all be tracked by their car and bank movements. Why do you think drug dealers have the shit old phones we had like the Nokia With snake on?

Not really. If you use a loyalty card, own an Amazon Alexa or shop online, there's a wealth of information available to people about you already. Unless you're a hermit and you don't have the internet, your personal information is being collated anyway.

'They're' listening and reading right now OP. Track and trace is probably the least of your worries.

I giggle at anyone who thinks they don't have massive digital footprint already and it's not available to the highest bidder.

@Ugzbugz

There is an incredible amount of work that goes into tracking people in this way. The NHS app will just be handing it to them on a plate and what's more there is no protection over who this data can be shared with.

I think it speaks volumes that the UK is choosing to not use one of the apps that are successfully operating in other countries. In fact we are the only country in Europe ( apart from France) who had chosen to use a different platform which breaches data protection in a way that no other app does.

It will all start with this app and then move onto a chip in your body. So those of you who have no problem with the app and having your movements known about...tell me then if they announced a chip to be places inside you then surely you have no problem with that? After all what do you have to hide right? All the info about you is already out there...

I'd love to know if you would say the same thing

So those of you who have no problem with the app and having your movements known about

But this app doesn't track your location or movements...?

I thought the actual app had been delayed.

‘Dominic Cummings is a big part of my lack of trust, because he has demonstrated an egregious attitude to our personal data and to data protection rules for years. He's not the only offender, of course, and getting rid of him wouldn't get rid of the problem. However he does have a long track record, andis currently in the heart of government and has been making grabs for our data since he got there.‘

Bloody hell. Hadn’t thought of it like that. Am so torn. It’s the only way I can see of getting life back to something a bit like normal and desperately want to do all I can to help. It would help me to manage my worries about accidentally passing it on and killing someone if I knew it would alert me if I’d been exposed to it.

But you are right and I don’t trust him or BJ one little bit to do what’s right. Their friend has got the contract to roll it out and has a terrible track record. But what’s the worst that could happen if we did all sign up? Don’t the benefits outweigh any potential risks? The risks of covid are real, known and are current. The risks of handing over data are predicted, unknown and in the future.

I think I will still sign up but with a sense of slight unease about it.

Could you sign up under a pseudonym?

I'm not entirely sure how this works, correct me if I am wrong.

Does it register if you have been in 2m contact with someone with a confirmed case for more than 10 minutes?

Would it register me and my next door or upstairs neighbour were close together even though there are walls between us?

Would it alert me if I had been in the supermarket with someone who I probably didn't have direct contact with?

I'm not sure if I trust this app or not.

What a fucking ludicrous thread.

I am one of the most anti lockdown poster in this board. But I'll download an app... What information do you think they are stealing??,
. My location? Work and home, don't really need an app to decifer that
My phone number... Had it for nearly 20 years... Not a secret
My address? I'm not seeing what Can be dome with that! Considering if you Google my name my address comes up anyway?

So what is the big deal? What data is so precious

@PickUpAPickUpAPenguin
Thanks for clarifying that it's a different Cummings. I did think it would likely be a big breach of procurement rules to just "hand it to a mate" - as it was described to me.

I am fizzing over the government's handling of COVID, and I hate handing over data. All my optional privacy settings are on max, location, history etc all deleted regularly.

With good reason as I have seen data find its way out if an organisation without permission. Not to mention hackers.

But I will sign up and I will comply out of duty and wanting to do the right thing.

Because it is for the greater good. And to be honest, if keeping the data centrally helps our NHS/scientists understand it better, that's a plus point.

They've made a rubbish job of selling the benefits though and it's been riddled with controversy. Typically.

Anything that helps us all fight this I will do.

What's the app called? I can't seem to find it

I'm fine with it. I have had a phone since age 10, had SM since 14. All of my info is somewhere out there in the world.

I don't care. It's fine. This in not 1984, no one is trying to trap you.

You sound paranoid. Are you OK? The world is an information web now. Until someone uses it to threaten or control it is fine.

The government don't have the information that the app will pass on. If they did there wouldn't be any point in launching the app....!

Do you know what information gets sent from the app that's currently being tested. What personally identifying info is sent from your phone?

I'm intrigued to know what people "think" is being sent. Do you know how the app works?

It's not just been available to people on the IoW, it is possible to get it.

How is this 'paranoid'?

Wasn't a sizeable minority (if not majority) of MN convinced that Johnson was 'selling' the NHS to the US/privatising by stealth and so on just six month ago?

I WAS going to.
But I thought it was going to be like they have in China, where it alerts people who have been near each other on public transport etc - even strangers, it’s in the phone.

But apparently with ours it’s down to us to say who we have been with?
Well I can let those people know myself. So I’m not seeing the point in it.
What am I missing?

OK, those who don't want it can stay in lockdown. is that fair?

But apparently with ours it’s down to us to say who we have been with?

No, when the app is installed on your phone it has a unique "application id". The app detects if you are close to another person/people with the app installed and the ids are recorded and stored on your phone, along with info on Bluetooth signal strength (same happens in theirs).

What details are we giving away (that the Government doesn’t probably have already anyway)?