Government tracking our movements - would you opt in?

[Sparklfairy]

Don't know if this has been posted anywhere, can't see it. The government are looking to launch an app to trap our movements and let us know if we have come into contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

They want/need 50% of us to sign up in order for it to be effective. Would you opt in?

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-govt-set-to-release-contact-tracking-app-which-detects-nearby-virus-carriers-11966243

I don't go anywhere exciting, I don't really care. And as a PP has said, most people always have their phones on them anyway.

They would do better to start with testing, proper widescale testing.

This service is useless without it, anyway.

If they did it alongside mass testing then yes I would

Another reason not to get a smart phone.

Nope. Not a chance in hell. I read about this and it made me very very uncomfortable. In the balance between safety and encroaching on human rights this comes down on the wrong side for me.

I wouldn't be keen on it. Sure most of us don't have anything to hide but some do, not necessarily criminal but private business of any nature you can imagine. We are tracked to a certain extent but those are t&c's we agree to when we use alexa and other devices. They are used for advertising purposes though so there is a difference. Direct tracking of real time locations stored somewhere is not for me and even if it is only used for the purposes of corona virus I would still be uncomfortable with it. Potential for abuses and by allowing it we shift public attitudes to surveillance not in everyone's favour, which has implications for the future.

We are already tracked

We are already tracked

Agreed. I last went to the supermarket on Friday, and I didn't open Google maps at all, yet I've just checked my maps history and it's been logged.

It still strikes me as strange that some people are selective about what invasion of privacy is okay and what isn't usually if someone is suspected of cheating it's fine but if it's their own privacy being invaded they hate it

No. I don't usually take my phone out with me either.

Absolutely not, no.
Whats the gain without mass testing / vaccine?
And what's the exit strategy?
Would I willingly trust any Govt with private data? - No!

How would it work if they don’t test anyone?

No.

I read ... about 'a view from China', where they're doing exactly this

No doubt - but then China's a communist totalitarian state and we're not

Oh, hell no. If they made it compulsory I'd switch off my phone and leave it at home. It's not like I'm going further than three minutes from home anyway.

Absolutely not. If I'm going to get the virus then I'm going to get it. Knowing I've been in contact with someone who has it won't make any difference to how I'm living my life at the moment. My location services are only turned on as as when I need them then turned off again.

When you could have counted the people with the virus on both hands there would have been a point to this. Now we will be getting to the hundreds of thousands I can't see it being any use. I suppose if they manage to get a handle on it to the point the numbers are very low again it could be worth a shot.

No. And I have all locations, maps etc disabled on my phone. No microphones on either. One of my favourite books is 1984 but I'm not willing to live in it

No.
It is too late now anyway.
I'm dubious about the accuracy of GPS on many phones anyway - when I used to record runs etc on Strava (pre-plague days) sometimes it would put me way away from where I actually was!

How many of the people on this thread saying no way are happily sharing much more data with google, Apple, Facebook or similar apps?

Far less regulated and accountable than government.

Not saying this is a good reason to trust the government with the same data mind you!

i would have no issue being tracked.

Some of the potential treatments look to be effective only if taken in the early stages

I am in the vulnerable group

So yes IF there was guaranteed regular testing and access to effective treatment should I come into contact with a carrier and be tested positive myself

Never thought I would say that, always disabled location tracking , minimal cookies etc, but feeling so down about being trapped inside, in a town, away from my family that I would

I would if it were a tag but not an app on my phone

No I wouldn’t opt in! England is a free country and they shouldn’t be tracking my movements

Also so many posters on here appear to suffer with extreme anxiety at the best of times, telling them that they’ve walked past Jane who has it really isn’t going to help them is it now? Also having been near someone doesn’t mean you will 100% get it. All it would do is cause some to
stress even more

No.

They can start mass testing if they are itching to do something useful.

The thing about mass testing is that you could save millions of cash and time if the testing was focussed

Option 1 don't track people, test everyone ? Weekly?

Option 2 test only people who could have come in contact with someone

This is actually what the WHO were trying to get us to do right at the start. It didn't seem to occur to them that places like China and South Korea were already set up for contact tracing with the general level of surveillance already in their society , whereas most of the world can't do it so easily

They won't tell you who or where the contact was with