Contact tracing, the next step

[TomKat]

This is the deep state's next move. They seem scared to death that Covid will recede into the background like last year's news cycle without them achieving maximum totalitarian benefit:

qFUyZWw7qoc

Check out Nancy Pelosi: she looks surprisingly like one of the aliens from the movie They Live!

[greybeard]

Prof, Knut Wittkowski | Testing Is Nether Necessary Nor Effective | Covid19


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC52pSL_AK4

[spade]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-contact-tracing-device-trace-together-app-12806842

SINGAPORE: The Government is developing and will "soon" roll out a portable and wearable contact tracing device, Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan told Parliament on Friday (Jun 5).

"If this portable device works, we may then distribute it to everyone in Singapore," he said. "And I believe this will be more inclusive, and it will ensure that all of us will be protected."

Dr Balakrishnan was responding to a question by Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC Vikram Nair, who had asked if there were plans to make it mandatory for people to download the TraceTogether contact tracing app.

The TraceTogether app works by sending Bluetooth signals to each other when in close proximity, making it easier for authorities to conduct contact tracing when a user tests positive for COVID-19.

The contact tracing device will "achieve the same objectives" as TraceTogether, but without the need for a smartphone, said Dr Balakrishnan, adding that contact tracing has become more essential with more out and about post-"circuit breaker".

However, the Government has decided not to make the download of the app compulsory as it does not work equally well across different smartphone operating systems, Dr Balakrishnan said.

Apple's iOS suspends Bluetooth scanning when the app is running in the background, meaning users have to leave it in the foreground, without using other apps.

"We've had repeated discussions at both the technical and policy level with Apple, but we have not yet been able to find a satisfactory solution," Dr Balakrishnan said.

Nevertheless, a total of 1.5 million users have downloaded the app, about one-fifth of Singapore's population. Dr Balakrishnan called this figure "encouraging", given that downloading the app is voluntary.

Authorities have also made it compulsory for migrant workers living in dorms to download the app, and Dr Balakrishnan urged more people to do the same.

Dr Balakrishnan said the app has improved the contact tracing process by generating a preliminary list of close contacts that need to be quarantined, reducing the time taken to isolate these contacts and therefore the risk of the infection being spread.

"Notwithstanding the limitations of coverage today, the data from TraceTogether has already been a helpful, additional tool for our contact tracers, especially when it is used in combination with other data sources," he said.

The app has also been recently updated to register the user's NRIC or FIN number, he added, allowing authorities to establish the identity of close contacts quicker.

DATA CONFIDENTIALITY

Dr Balakrishnan reiterated that personal data is stored on the user's mobile phone and is strictly used for contact tracing, only to be accessed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) when a user tests positive for COVID-19.

"There are safeguards including encryption in place to protect this from malicious hackers and the data that's older than 25 days will be automatically deleted from your phone," he added.

"If the close contact data is required for contact tracing, only a small group of authorised officers in MOH will have access to it."

Dr Balakrishnan called quick and accurate contact tracing a necessity, particularly now that Singapore has exited the circuit breaker (lockdown).

"If everyone is at home, in fact the need for contact tracing is minimal," he said. "But now that we have more people moving about, going to work, there will be more occasions when more people will have more close interactions with each other."

Dr Balakrishan stressed that contact tracing is a professional skill that ultimately depends on human judgment, with technology as an enabler.

"If we can reduce the incidence of clusters by better and faster contact tracing, then we can avoid having to reintroduce restrictive lockdown measures in the future," he said.

"I hope that all members of the public will work with us to achieve this."

[Tintin]

How track and trace works once lockdown ends

Courtesy of our good friends at Private Eye :bigsmile:

43770

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZvwXr4XYAA6Hhm?format=jpg&name=medium

[Tintin]

Top10VPN has been tracking developments in contact tracing and how it is being applied globally, and their updates can be found, via:

https://www.top10vpn.com/research/investigations/covid-19-digital-rights-tracker/

They've also provided a Google Sheet that provides further details and is quite thorough; well worth spending some time perusing it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1enCBRLVCo2Dp2B0AB3tEYvLc279i5LUuoGCzoelz8aQ/edit#gid=0

[Tintin]

Google Covid-19 alert notification App

I can re-confirm that any stories doing the rounds will be largely true.

My housemate (in the UK) has just shown me on his Android phone, under a Google option (Settings?) where this has clearly been automatically installed on the device. He had not downloaded this himself.

Any of you out there in the UK with an android device may wish to do the same, and check.

Quelle surprise then that the UK Government adopted the Google and (presumably) Apple models for tracing under the guise of a decentralized approach :)

[Maia Gabrial]

Here's a whistleblower in shadow talking about what she knows, and her experiences with contact tracing:

https://www.brighteon.com/14dfe692-fc63-498a-ab4d-a33fc83450db

It's not a pretty picture...

[norman]

The phone embedded Contact Tracing app and clampdown - Alex Jones (2020-08-19).


MP3
https://app.box.com/s/z8mrmp6kd95e0rz1icxvrbqt0bb6prrl

[DaveToo]

CDC Tracked Millions Of Americans During Lockdowns To Monitor Movement, Compliance (https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/cdc-tracked-millions-americans-during-lockdowns-monitor-movement-compliance)
using their cellphone data.