Govt allays fears on privacy as it prepares to launch Covid-19 app on May 15

[webfact]

Govt allays fears on privacy as it prepares to launch Covid-19 app on May 15

By The Nation

 

Dr Polawat Witoolkollachit, inspector general of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society

 

The government is launching a Covid-19 contact-tracing app, aimed at preventing a second wave of infections while assuring privacy protection.

 

The government has already created an application called “ThaiChana”, (Thai victory), Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said on Thursday (May 14).

 

Businesses owners were advised to register with the platform, which will generate a QR code for them, then they can put up the QR code on their front doors, and it will tell them about the number of people in their business places, and their services will be rated.

 

Customers can just use their smartphones to check-in and check-out at those venues. Authorities will know only the phone number of the users, he said in response to concerns about privacy.

 

Meanwhile, Dr Polawat Witoolkollachit, inspector general  of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society responsible for this mobile app, said that business owners will be invited to register with the platform to be officially launched tomorrow (May 15) afternoon. After registration,  they will get a QR code.

 

People who come to shops, such as restaurants or barbers, have to scan the QR code to enter, which will let them know if the shop is crowded or not.

 

When checking out, customers are advised to rate services in order to report whether shops are implementing preventive measures such as social distancing, arranging gel for handwash, wearing masks and avoiding congestion.

 

Should anyone contract the virus, risk groups who come to the shop at that specific time interval will be informed via a message and they will be asked to test for the virus.

 

“By using this application, it will help to more efficiently trace those in risk groups, as South Korea has done,” he said.

 

Wide use of the application will assist Thailand to implement the second round of lockdown easing and further relaxations, he assured.

 

“The information will be kept by the Department of Disease Control and will be used for disease control purpose only,” he assured in response to concerns on the privacy issue.

 

The CCSA reported one new case of Covid-19 on Thursday after no new infections the previous day, while authorities are still cautioning about easing the lockdown due to many countries experiencing a second wave of infections after some restrictions were lifted.

 

Thursday marked one of the best days for Thailand in battling the pandemic.

 

The man who contracted the virus lived in Chiang Mai, but he had just returned from Phuket where he used to work.

 

Cumulative cases rose to 3,018 of whom 2,850 have recovered, 112 remain in hospitals while the death toll remains at 56.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30387842

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-05-14

 

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[YetAnother]

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

while assuring privacy protection

uh huh, since when does anyone believe anything this government says ? count on the opposite

[Grumpy John]

Well I thought about it for a micro second......and......nope, I'll pass on that one.  

[RichardColeman]

Great, but i personally don't have a mobile phone

[redwood1]

So lets see here.....

 

They are going to assure privacy by taking more privacy away..

and

They are going to give more freedom by taking more freedom away...

and

If some random person who is in a shop the same time as me could cause me to be put under medical suspicion ,and needing to be tested....

[Thaiwrath]

10 minutes ago, webfact said:

Customers can just use their smartphones to check-in and check-out at those venues.

[colinneil]

Dont bother me, not smart enough for a smart phone, still use a push button phone.????

[RobertHima]

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

Authorities will know only the phone number of the users, he said in response to concerns about privacy.

You used your ID card / passport to get that phone number, there goes the "only" part.

[Brigand]

Getting more like China all the time and this idea they have just copied from their handlers plus I bet it's Chinese software too. Sorry to say, but it's just getting worse here all the time on this front ... the screw keeps turning on all of us now, Thais included. Personally, I don't have a phone that can read QR codes and am not likely to agree to being part of this blatantly Orwellian idea.

[DrTuner]

Thailand's attitude towards privacy is well seen in the A4 copies of other farangs passports and bank books the immigration routinely uses as scrap paper. 

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, RobertHima said:

You used your ID card / passport to get that phone number, there goes the "only" part.

They can already get your approximate location the second you turn your phone on. The nearest cell station the phone connects to will report the number of the SIM card connected to your ID/passport. 

[smedly]

so we will all be on permanent lockdown unless you have a smartphone - that is what I am reading from this, no entry unless you can scan a QR code 

[DrTuner]

Just now, smedly said:

so we will all be on permanent lockdown unless you have a smartphone - that is what I am reading from this, no entry unless you can scan a QR code 

As usual, zero enforcement .. it's lip service.

[garygooner]

"You can also use the app to check if your barbers is crowded" 

I can just look inside the bloody window!! 

[Crossy]

8 minutes ago, garygooner said:

"You can also use the app to check if your barbers is crowded" 

I can just look inside the bloody window!! 

 

Our barbers doesn't have a window just a roof. Does that make him "outdoors" so fewer restrictions?

 

Despite barbers being allowed to open I still can't get a haircut. The man vanished off to his village and nobody knows when he will return ????

 

Actually, checking in and out of locations isn't too bad, it's not like some country's apps that track your every move.

 

Google knows where my phone has been for the last million years anyway, of course, that doesn't mean it knows where I have been

 

 

 

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

Dont bother me, not smart enough for a smart phone, still use a push button phone.????

 

Colin, the tracker built into your scooter by the Chinese manufacturer tells him everything ????

 

Silly anecdote.

My son used to work for an outfit in Christchurch (Dorset) who make wheelchair and scooter electronics. Of course each country has different regulations about maximum speeds etc. To keep costs down all the country unique data was stored in FLASH software parameters which were easily altered (like re-mapping your car ECU). There was quite a little black market in "Hot ROMs" for your wheelchair.

100kph mod for the scooter??

 

[connda]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

Should anyone contract the virus, risk groups who come to the shop at that specific time interval will be informed via a message and they will be asked to test for the virus.

"Farang.  You need to get test.  Only 10,000 THB.  Maybe 20,000.  Farang price!"  Oh, this week you contact three different times.  You need three tests.  Maybe you get virus between 1st and 2nd test, or between 2nd and 3rd test.  Safety first."

Not only have they destroyed their economies but they dead set on destroying their society as well.  And kiss tourism good-bye. 

[Why Me]

The only way they can force people to scan the QR code is if the shop checks every customer's phone for a confirmation alert (with the shop's id of course). before allowing entry. Which sounds pretty harsh and not easy to implement.

 

Ok, mebbe the person with the thermal scanner will have added duty.

[JCP108]

Sounds like a great plan...hope the app works as well as the one that they launched before for farangs arriving at airports. 

 

Also, I don't have a smartphone. Don't need a phone of any level of intelligence. I have a Thai wife. 

[cornishcarlos]

Surely they still need to test people for this app to have any use whatsoever.

Wait a minute, maybe it's not for tracking Covid at all ????

[JCP108]

The online publication which can't be quoted here said that the government wanted it to be used in restroom areas of malls, too. So, how will someone like me (who doesn't have a phone since I have a Thai wife) go to the restroom in a mall? How will I go anywhere without a phone? Will people be stopping me from going into shops and restrooms? Does this mean permanent lockdown for me?

[PETERTHEEATER]

16 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Great, but i personally don't have a mobile phone

I have a set of semaphore flags if you're interested......

[Cabradelmar]

If you have a mobile and it's turned on... You are being tracked... The phone company knows. The app just makes it easier to abuse 

[Toany]

For victorious Thais.  Not for foreigners

[phkauf]

Firstly, I think this is yet another one of the typical Thai Official Mouth Diarrhea type ideas. They come up with this scheme without any thought of how to implement it or if the technology even works - but they announce it with great fanfare (Banners and Photo-Ops galore). Then when it doesn't work or just ignored by everyone, it fades away into the dustbin of other wonderful Thai Government ideas.

Second, IF this does become mandatory, I will just buy a tourist SIM and use my old phone for this evil app. No way will I put it my regular phone. The old phone comes out only when required and then I'll probably change SIMs often.

[hotchilli]

20 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

Well I thought about it for a micro second......and......nope, I'll pass on that one.  

You lasted longer than I did... congratulations.

[JonnyF]

Zero chance of me installing this. Zero.

[ubon farang]

20 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Great, but i personally don't have a mobile phone

I am with you Richard I dont either Use my skype to call home Cheaper and lets face it I dont have many Thai friends ringing me lol

[khunPer]

Apple & Google already has a Covid-19 app working with anonymous IDs via blue tooth.

[phkauf]

59 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Apple & Google already has a Covid-19 app working with anonymous IDs via blue tooth.

Yes, but Apple & Google are not Thai, so there is the need for Thais to completely re-invent the app from the beginning. That's why everything in Thailand works so much better than the rest of the world. Have you not learned Thai history?

It's a scary that I would trust Google more to protect my privacy than the Thai app. At least Google pretends to care.