Contact Tracing Partnership Between Apple and Google

[TommyG]

Mods if this should be in an existing COVID thread, please move.

If it time to ditch the smartphone for good? I know these things already track us six ways from Sunday and I have had discussions in past with like minded friends that we are going to have to stop carrying them or flat out learn to live without them someday. This Contact Tracking partnership between Apple and Google is pretty brazen/out in the open. Phase One is voluntary. Phase two will be at the operating system level to ensure mass compliance. I know it says the user must opt in but the potential for abuse is gigantic. It is already traceable via the towers and GPS chip. The new feature will be your device pinging every in range device via Bluetooth in real time. Tracks where you are, who you were with or in proximity to (assuming they also have a device which is more likely than not) and for how long.

FAQ from Apple here: https://covid19-static.cdn-apple.com...on-FAQv1.1.pdf

a. Can I turn it off?
Yes. The choice to use this technology rests with the user, and he or she can turn it off at any
time by uninstalling the contact tracing application or turning off exposure notification in
Settings.

I am assuming it would be child's play for them to remotely activate this and trip the Bluetooth to ping should they choose to. Maybe someone who is tech savvy could chime in on that one.

I lived more of my life without one of these things than with it and I am sure I will survive without it if I have to. Wondering if that time is swiftly approaching?

Thoughts? One minute I think my tinfoil hat is getting a little too tight and the next minute I wonder if I should have thrown this thing in the trash years ago.

[MegademiC]

It will likely be added to the next privacy update that no one reads.

Then everyones opted in.

Ive already quit taking my phone everywhere.

[Honu]

will basic burners be put out of existence and smart be the only option ? that is the thing ?

for me a ipad at home is my most used tool these days so it can trace me at home ! knowing who is calling is handy of course but yeah volunteer now and as said in the next update or so ?

I am at the point buy a pre paid cheap burner for daily use when we go out and use that

smartphones are handy but really I do not have FB on it anymore etc... and so much spy crap is going on its insane ! glad to see the AZ AG going after google I wish every state would do this

just remember you are the product these days !

could I have my smart phone and nothing on it use it for the camera and few other things and be happy ? then WHY I would say waste of money but I think so many are blind and sign up and do not go into settings and turn stuff off etc.....

some kinda good stop all outbound traffic hack apps will become more popular

we are going to be in strange times

[chadbag]

Guys. This is a framework that is in the system (at least as of now) and requires an App to actually use it. You have to download the app. Various states/governments are responsible for developing their own apps that use the framework. Don't want to participate, don't download the app.

Can they remotely trigger this? Right now, without an app, there is nothing to trigger.

If you are worried about this, you should have ditched your phone long ago (and your computer and any tech) as there could theoretically already be tons of backdoors and triggers to track you etc.

[grizzlyblake]

It’s already happening. If you have a google phone it’s doing it by default. If you have Facebook it’s doing it by default in the app.

Your phone tracks regular movements to certain retailers, restaurants, certain geographic areas, etc. The information is used for advertising and simply grooms advertising that is displayed in apps, browser banners, etc.

My wife and I tested out a google phone she used to have. We had an in person conversation about baby diapers for a while, while her phone was locked and idle on a table in the room, then her Facebook ads were all for diapers.

Anyone who thinks this is some new cutting edge thing is not paying attention.

If you have a google phone it knows everything. Go back door download your data log. Every voice to text recording you’ve ever done is on their servers, every map route you’ve ever punched in, etc.

[Life's a Hillary]

It’s a shame that we can’t trust the government or these tech companies not to abuse this power because having contact tracing to inform people they might have been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID would be extremely useful.

Of course, if you don’t think the government can’t already trace your every step then you haven’t been paying attention very well.

[chadbag]

If we are going to do contact tracing, the Apple/Google way is the way to do it. It all resides on phoen only until someone reports themselves as positive. Then a hash of some sort is uploaded and all those who have had contact with that hash are notified. No identifiable data is sent to any server as I understand it.

May countries have tried to roll their own with centralized servers... Those aren't going anywhere.

[Aries144]

wrong thread

[THCDDM4]

Screw contact tracing. Man, f*** these companies and their desires to track and manipulate people in every way possible. F*** the .gov wanting to do the same.

Privacy is fleeting, it's pretty sad.

[Diamondback]

I've turned off automatic updates on all my Android devices because of this.