Google installed a Covid-19 tracker on my phone

[Oaktree]

Yea, well my flip phone doesn't have any of that garbage on it. I just need a phone not a computer when Im out and about...

News flash, the bill of rights has nothing to phone technology. You have every right not to buy a fricken smart phone just to make your life easier.

I agree totally, and that is one of the main reasons I don't have or want a smart phone. Even before this covid crap it was no big secret that Google/Apple/Facebook/any business whose "ap" you installed has the ability to track where you've been and when you were there. Even when you think you've turned off the GPS function in it doesn't mean it's really off, or that these aps can over-ride what you selected.

To me, that is far too high a price to pay for the minor convenience of being able to scan a HF 20% off coupon or to check your email while waiting in line at the supermarket.

The irony that seems to be lost is that people would be rioting in the streets if the government required citizens to always carry a tracking device (ala 1984), yet these same people willingly pony up $600+ for a device that does just that, and wouldn't be without it.

 

[drssg]

I agree totally, and that is one of the main reasons I don't have or want a smart phone. Even before this covid crap it was no big secret that Google/Apple/Facebook/any business whose "ap" you installed has the ability to track where you've been and when you were there. Even when you think you've turned off the GPS function in it doesn't mean it's really off, or that these aps can over-ride what you selected.

To me, that is far too high a price to pay for the minor convenience of being able to scan a HF 20% off coupon or to check your email while waiting in line at the supermarket.

The irony that seems to be lost is that people would be rioting in the streets if the government required citizens to always carry a tracking device (ala 1984), yet these same people willingly pony up $600+ for a device that does just that, and wouldn't be without it.

And of course, an old flip phone can also do a pretty good job of tracking where you've been and when you were there. It's just not the same precision as a GPS tracker.

I also agree with the 1984 analogy, and social media is another factor. Big Brother doesn't need a spying network if people upload all their daily activities to the collective.

I have a SIL who works with convicted felons to assist them with finding and keeping employment after their release. She says they quite regularly go back to prison for crimes that they brag about online.

 

[newbury]

Much of the time, esp. when mobile, my phone is in Airplane mode.

Realistically though, with a modern phone, you don't really control much of anything on it 100%. The only real off switch is having a removable battery.

Rgds, D.

Nah, I've a metal building - no signal in or out. I refer to it as my "Faraday Cage".

 

[/pine]

LoL...At least with the COVID tracking software you know it's there on your phone...what you don't know is that there's likely a lot of other apps on your phone that has embedded tracking software that has not been disclosed...and that you can't disable...

U.S. Government Contractor Embedded Software in Apps to Track Phones - WSJ

 

[Chewwy]

It’s not really installed.

PolitiFact | Why your phone has ‘COVID-19 exposure logging’

 

[TractorGuy]

LoL...At least with the COVID tracking software you know it's there on your phone...what you don't know is that there's likely a lot of other apps on your phone that has embedded tracking software that has not been disclosed...and that you can't disable...

U.S. Government Contractor Embedded Software in Apps to Track Phones - WSJ

The point is we didn't know it was there. It was pushed into an update I had no idea occurred.

Kind of glad it came up because I also didn't know that option to turn off personalized advertising was there. I suppose that setting is why I often get ads for stuff I was talking about but had not actually searched the internet for. SO FYI the eavesdropping we all knew was going on IS turned on by default.

 

[/pine]

The point is we didn't know it was there. It was pushed into an update I had no idea occurred.

Kind of glad it came up because I also didn't know that option to turn off personalized advertising was there. I suppose that setting is why I often get ads for stuff I was talking about but had not actually searched the internet for. SO FYI the eavesdropping we all knew was going on IS turned on by default.

FYI...The point you don't seem to get is the fact that there could be several other apps on your phone that have nothing to do with advertising etc...that there is NO way to turn on or off...Even those that disable location and other tracking software could still have tracking software embedded in apps that they use every day without a clue there is more to them than the actual application...!

Even with location software turned off the phone ( and all the covert apps) is still constantly pinging towers etc...

 

[ericm979]

The covid "tracker" isn't actually tracking anyone. If you tell the system that you're positive, and you had it on, then they can tell people who you were near that a covid positive person was near them. Up until that point the data's encrypted with a key that only your phone knows. Even after you tell the system you're positive, it's designed to not reveal your identity either to the people running the servers or to the people who get notified. The protocol and cryptography they are using to do this is sound.

The thing to worry about from a privacy perspective is not this feature, it's the apps that include code from companies that make their business from tracking people. There's a lot of them and a lot of apps use their stuff because they get kickbacks.

E911 and tower location information is only available to the phone co and the people they share it with... mostly law enforcement. While that's a privacy violation, it's not as bad as what the SDKs in apps are doing.

 

[/pine]

The covid "tracker" isn't actually tracking anyone. If you tell the system that you're positive, and you had it on, then they can tell people who you were near that a covid positive person was near them. Up until that point the data's encrypted with a key that only your phone knows. Even after you tell the system you're positive, it's designed to not reveal your identity either to the people running the servers or to the people who get notified. The protocol and cryptography they are using to do this is sound.

The thing to worry about from a privacy perspective is not this feature, it's the apps that include code from companies that make their business from tracking people. There's a lot of them and a lot of apps use their stuff because they get kickbacks.

E911 and tower location information is only available to the phone co and the people they share it with... mostly law enforcement. While that's a privacy violation, it's not as bad as what the SDKs in apps are doing.

Further...It would not be hard for a SDK to be written to look for positive results of a user of the app in question and using other software to identify the owner of the phone...a database could be quickly populated with the mined data...

 

[Oaktree]

LoL...At least with the COVID tracking software you know it's there on your phone...what you don't know is that there's likely a lot of other apps on your phone that has embedded tracking software that has not been disclosed...and that you can't disable...

U.S. Government Contractor Embedded Software in Apps to Track Phones - WSJ

Paywall.