Thai govt to launch Covid-19 contact-tracing app

[digger70]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Thai govt to launch Covid-19 contact-tracing app

Now this is Marvelous isn't it This is Much bigger than BIG BROTHER .If this going to go forward who's going to supply all the people with New I Phones to the people who don't have one ? Me included. I only have a Halve smartphone (so am I) .Only use a phone for phone calls and OTP for banking. I can't use the Miserable small letters/numbers (Fingers a bit on the Large size) .Not going to buy a Big screen phone , Don't like them may as well carry big bag and a Laptop/Tablet.  

[welovesundaysatspace]

Will this work on my Nokia 3210 or are they going to handout free iPhones? 
 

 

[DirtyHarry55]

Initially I think its a great idea!
Except not sure I would want to install software from any government which had previous history of purchasing spy software.
If you do just be aware your phone may be listening.
https://prachatai.com/english/node/5335
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacking_Team
 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

7 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

And then think about if you trust Google to keep that data secret...

 

Mine is blank, empty... the setting has long been turned off in my Google user account profile, as has the Location services setting been on my Android phone.

 

[DrTuner]

And the problem with that is described here:

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-how-to-do-testing-and-contact-tracing-bde85b64072e

 

In short, people won't use it unless it's an opt-out, basically meaning it needs to be part of the Android/iOS. They seem to be working on that.

 

There are other options mentioned in that article. An opt-in app is not very effective.

[chainarong]

9 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

I was wondering when the App would appear in Thailand... Lots of other countries taking the opportunity to check who's hanging out together as well..

Surprised there was never a "who's had hayfever" app or "have you cut your finger" app !! 

OZ has it and the take up just like Singapore was not what they expected, for 16 million they've got three,  it works off Bluetooth, however if you are on Google android, well, I rest my case. 

[JusticeGB]

I bet all criminals will immediately sign up for this app. Apparently some Ministers of the Government think us poor farangs are criminals so we probably will be asked to put the app on our phones when we do our 90 day report.  

[otherstuff1957]

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

As far I know every Android phone come preinstalled with this little app and you can check for every minute of the last years where you have been. Try it!

https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

And then think about if you trust Google to keep that data secret...

Interesting. I spent a few minutes looking at my history and it says that I have visited several places that I have walked or driven past, but never really entered.

[AgMech Cowboy]

8 hours ago, baansgr said:

it's worked in Australia.

Pauline wouldn't sign up. I'm with her.

[AgMech Cowboy]

Did you ever notice how much Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin looks like Geng Shuang? Or is it just their manner? Or is it just me?

[DrTuner]

13 minutes ago, AgMech Cowboy said:

Did you ever notice how much Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin looks like Geng Shuang? Or is it just their manner? Or is it just me?

Probably not a coincidence: https://www.thaienquirer.com/7301/thai-media-is-outsourcing-much-of-its-coronavirus-coverage-to-beijing-and-thats-just-the-start/

[overt2016]

9 hours ago, baansgr said:

UK can get whatever they want already through 5 eyes and GCHQ etc..having an app on your phone that is actually beneficial to not only yourself but the whole country seems a good idea, it's worked in Australia. I take it you don't have Facebook, Line, WhatsApp, any shopping apps or even a mobile or land line or email address if you are that worried about MI5 spying on you...

But I don't have a mobile phone!

[overt2016]

9 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think such an app is a good idea. 

Something has to be done to prevent the spread of the virus. The question is what.

Should lots of places continue to be closed? Should the curfew continue? Or what is the best way forward from here?

Such app could be a tremendous help to track people's location. And if a confirmed Covid case was at the same location at the same time then details can be, and probably should be, checked.

Can such an app be misused? Sure.

But please look at all the other apps which you have now on your phone, and which came preinstalled on your phone.

As far I know every Android phone come preinstalled with this little app and you can check for every minute of the last years where you have been. Try it!

https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

And then think about if you trust Google to keep that data secret...

 

And for those who think: You can switch that off.

Are you sure? What are you actually switching off? The GPS sensor? Or are you just not able to see your location information anymore? And does that mean if you don't see it Google can't see it? Think again.

WITH MY BORING LIFE  SO WHAT

 

[kwonitoy]

6 hours ago, jaf3 said:

just promise me the app will work better than the online TM30 reporting.....

Exactly, The people in charge here are barely capable of getting lunch.

All the harping about hi tech this or that is just children playing at being adults.

They know how to say app, build one that can efficiently do its job, come on pull the other one

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

9 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

And then think about if you trust Google to keep that data secret...

 

Mine is blank, empty... the setting has long been turned off in my Google user account profile, as has the Location services setting been on my Android phone.

Some time ago I thought about turning off that function in my Google account. But then I thought: What am I turning off there? Do I switch off that Google does not collect that data anymore? Or do I only switch off the function that I don't see the information - but probably Google still collects all that data.

Personally I am at that stage that I live with the fact that all my moves, like all the moves from anybody else with a phone, are logged somewhere. Do I like it? Not really. Do I think I can change it? Probably not unless I use no phone anymore, be invisible to all the cameras, etc..

I don't think I am important enough that anybody would check what I am doing. And in case the Thai police want to f$#% me I am sure there are easier ways then mobile phone apps.

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, otherstuff1957 said:

Interesting. I spent a few minutes looking at my history and it says that I have visited several places that I have walked or driven past, but never really entered.

That's what I tell my gf about all the other girls. ???? 

[Enlil]

Virus will go away, tracking app / restrictiont will stay, like always. What if tracking app is just the beggining, step by step, next thing they will come up with some digital ID implans, that tech is already out there. 

[lamyai3]

8 hours ago, jaf3 said:

just promise me the app will work better than the online TM30 reporting.....

Incorporating mandatory location tracking would be a wet dream for immigration. 

[unblocktheplanet]

12 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Another great example of governments using COVID19 as an excuse to roll out measures to track the movements of their citizens.

 

I certainly don't want to be put under house arrest for 2-3 weeks because I happened to walk past someone who later tested positive. So it's a No from me. 

Your choice. But if I walked by you & caught Covid, I'd want you quarantined for everyone's safety.

[Blumpie]

Just FYI, it is possible to leave your house without your phone.  

[brain150]

23 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Your choice. But if I walked by you & caught Covid, I'd want you quarantined for everyone's safety.

It's not about what you "want" ... but it is what the Government "wants" !
And the Governments usually don't "want" what's good for the people.

 

... seems like everybody thinks they can just have anything they "want" ... and everybody else needs to do it !

[yourauntbob]

No chance this app ends up being abused by the government ????

[yourauntbob]

27 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Your choice. But if I walked by you & caught Covid, I'd want you quarantined for everyone's safety.

You dont see how "quarantining" people in a "government facility" might end badly?  And in your scenario, since you walked past this person YOU would end up in said quarantine.  

 

It shocking how people dont see how this is ripe for abuse.

[TSF]

13 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Has it ?? 

 

"More than four million Australians have downloaded the government's CovidSafe tracing App, but officials insist many more need to sign on to make it effective."

 

Not yet...

I listen to Australian talk back radio stations every day, this app has been a hot topic and so many people phoning in have problems... it doesn't work on this model phone or  that model phone, and phones older than x years. Makes you wonder if the Aussies got the Thais who set up the 90 day reporting app to make this one for them.

[dave s]

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Your choice. But if I walked by you & caught Covid, I'd want you quarantined for everyone's safety.

I haven't seen anything about how this would work internally. Do both person's phones always have bluetooth turned on, and constantly yell "hello there" over it, on a channel assigned to this function? That could eat up a lot of battery fast, you won't mind carrying a big power pack everywhere as well as your cell phone, right? How long does it take to infect another person? Have medical researchers even established that number yet, for sure? Does it depend on the distance between the two people? How exactly? Can bluetooth measure the distance to the other person accurately enough to calculate the minimum infection time for that distance? If your phone "contacts" someone else's phone for less than that minimum infection time, nothing should be recorded. What is the range and accuracy of a "contact"? If I'm sitting at a table along the wall of a restaurant, and you're sitting along the wall of the restaurant next door, the radio waves may pass through that wall well enough to register a close "contact" for the length of the meal, but nothing chemical like the virus will get through the wall. So you're willing to spend two weeks in a detention center because you had "contact" with a person you've never seen or heard? It's just for everyone's safety, you know. On BTS, on MRT, on many other kinds of public transportation, "social distancing" flies right out the window, but how many "contacts" will such an app record for just one trip on the skytrain? And Thailand's pathetic excuse for a police force will carefully and accurately do tracing all those "contacts"?

 

So how do you make all of this mandatory? Who gets to inspect my cell phone? When? How often? What can they look at, and what is forbidden to poke around at? Suppose I have an old, beat up cell phone that barely works, and I put the app on that, but keep it turned off, except when I whip it out to show some brainless minimum wage security guard that it has the app installed? Then the new cell phone that I actually use isn't tracking with the app. Will the app insure somehow that the phone it lives on is never turned off, never runs the battery out, is never left at home or in the car? And if the Thai computer morons who can't make 90 day reporting and TM-30 work worth <deleted> figure out how to do that, what's to stop someone who can use the Android developer kit from developing a fake version of their app that shows the 7-11 security guard everything that he wants to see?

 

Time to make some more popcorn.

[Krataiboy]

10 hours ago, Saltire said:

The time to complain about being tracked was 20 years ago. 

Quitter.

[meechai]

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I don't think I am important enough that anybody would check what I am doing.

Classic Bleating

[Eddy Ozark]

1984

[cornishcarlos]

3 hours ago, Eddy Ozark said:

1984

 

It's here for sure...

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-52619568/coronavirus-robot-dog-enforces-social-distancing-in-singapore-park

[OneMoreFarang]

4 hours ago, Eddy Ozark said:

1984

And obviously all those other apps would never ever use your location, camera, microphone, …