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 have no problem at all with the proposal.

But, let's say you get a notification that someone who shopped at the same supermarket as you tested positive. It doesn't really mean anything. It doesn't mean you are going to get sick. I know someone who tested positive and was quite sick, but his girlfriend who he has been in very close contact with tested negative. It's a very weird illness, because it does pass on very easily in some cases, but perhaps not in all cases, so I suspect an app like this would just cause more anxiety and stress.

I thought about this midgebabe

The thing about testing is that you could be tested and come back negative, then go to the supermarket and pick it up then, all complacent that you've 'been tested and don't have it'. We already don't have enough tests to even reassure NHS workers, and really they'd need very regular testing as they come into contact every single day, without the rest of the population.

Absolutely not

if you're not doing anything wrong then what's the problem?

Said every dictator in history

Nope.

Not because I don't think the theory is a good idea.

But because I don't believe the government have the backup plans in place for many families who may have a LP whipped away and quarantined. There's no way people forced to stay in via app will get access to food etc. We can barely get it when we can go out!

Exactly, for testing to work it needs to focus on those who have some exposure and needs to be coupled with effective treatment

@JustAnotherPoster00 it was just a question. As I've said all the way through this thread I am completely on the fence about this, leaning more towards hesitant and distrustful of motives/long term effects. I just keep coming back to the fact that I don't go anywhere, respect lockdown and my movements so far have been tracked and logged on google maps anyway!

Look at how the Chinese government use this level of surveillance.

You can't even buy a train ticket if you have made the wrong comment on social media, liked a celebrity who then was caught for tax evasion

@itsgettingweird very very good point about LPs.

No fucking way. You'd have to be a total idiot to allow this.

Fuck no!

When the police are already issuing summons to people buying Easter Eggs and releasing drone footage of lone dog walkers miles from anywhere with "NOT ESSENTIAL" captions all over them? No. Not a cat in hell's chance.

No
I’m ok with it all so far but not this

When we say SK did really well and other Asian countries they do more than we would accept.

Far less regulated and accountable than government.

Until that changes. Once people have surrendered a right- such as the right not to effectively wear an electronic tag as a law-abiding citizen- it can be pretty difficult to get that right back. So, once coronavirus is no longer a crisis, maybe, because we all have the app and it could be so very useful in investigating crime and terrorism, maybe we just encourage people to keep it installed, carry on using it. Maybe we offer incentives to do so. Maybe then, as it's so useful and lots of people use it anyway, we pass a law to make it be incorporated as a background app that runs in all new phones sold in the UK. And we sleep-walk into the situation that, if you're involved in any protests or anti-government action, the government know exactly who you are and who you were with.

It's a slippery slope argument, is all.

Most likely none of us are doing anything wrong right now. What if the rules change? Whst if the rules change retrospectively?
I take my dogs out, I also go for a long walk cos I'm used to walking miles everyday, next week it could be illegal (in which case I won't take my phone with me) but equally next week my walk today could have become illegal.
What if I was somebody important and having an affair? This info could be used to blackmail me.
What if my ex who tried to kill me and stalked me for years is in a position to follow my every move?
I could go on. None of us is truly blameless in every single aspect of life. Everyone does something illegal at some point. We may airbrush it in our minds or justify OUR little acts of illegality, but we still have all done something.
Government in general (all over the world not just UK) are not well known for keeping info like this secret.

You won't need to take your phone out with you if they chip everyone with the 'vaccine' nobody is allowed to opt out of.

If this is a case, I hope people are ready to resist and not just be a bunch of wet lettuces.

tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OGC.9667283c4e8732e7a68d625fcfe8ce98&pid=Api&rurl=https%3a%2f%2fmedia.tenor.co%2fimages%2f9667283c4e8732e7a68d625fcfe8ce98%2ftenor.gif&ehk=%2fxK22ynpsceYUtO49xTfUIPWMINwKdOHIXx75NW4ilQ%3d

if you're not doing anything wrong then what's the problem?

Have you not seen the dozens of threads right here on mumsnet wanting to publicly shame people who haven't done anything wrong at all? Imagine that, only with the power of the state behind it.

@mindproject conspiracy theories aren't helpful

I've linked to sky news. They're launching the app. It's opt in, not opt out so not compulsory. Throwing around ideas that we're all going to be 'chipped' is frankly ridiculous.

No one is out to get you

That didn't come out how I thought it would hahaha.

OP, to answer your question, no.

FUCK NO.

I lived in a dictatorship for some years as a child. I'm not at all keen to give any government, even a democratically elected one, that amount of info about my daily life.

Never mind the risk of it being hacked and the info sold.

No no no no no.
And no some more.

If it's purely for tracking who I've had close contact with, notifying me to isolate if needed and private details kept private, I really haven't got a problem with it. We need to crack this and saves lives. I'm following government guidelines, so I don't care if they know where I am.

I'm not convinced it would be much use since there is no widespread testing. I am willing to give up certain aspects of privacy for safety. Sensible people do all the time. For example you accept that your bag will be searched on entering certain buildings because you damn well want everyone else's bag to be searched and it's a small price to pay.

This though may be giving up some privacy for little or no gain. I''d need more convincing.

Btw note that it does not go to a central database as people are assuming.

if you're not doing anything wrong then what's the problem?

Yes, yes. If you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear. You know that was a slogan used by the Nazis in propaganda?