WaPo coverage of C19 apps
Nov. 18th, 2020 12:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitouthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/18/coronavirus-app-exposure-alerts/
This is specifically the stuff that Apple and Google have enabled underlying support for, but which states have to each develop apps for. Massachusetts has not rolled one out and is not on the article’s list of states which have announced plans to do so. Boooooo Massachusetts.
“I’m usually the first person to caution that we shouldn’t trust corporations or the government with our sensitive personal data. But after investigating the data flowing out of these state-sponsored apps and services, I haven’t found much danger in having them on my phone.”
When I first heard about this, I was like, yes! Do this now!
And then when I got the update on iOS that supported it, I went in there pronto and tried to turn stuff on. And then I went looking for a Massachusetts app. Crickets.
Months later, still, crickets. Boooooo Massachusetts.
I know y’all — like, _everyone_ is way more freaked out about privacy concerns than I am (you have to understand: I grew up a JW, so I had zero privacy expectations. I figured out how to keep things that I did not want known ... not known. I figured out how to not share information ... while appearing to share information. I told the truth in a way that made people certain I was lying. It is Not Hard, people.), but even this author thinks this is a good idea.
Please, for the love of all of us, pressure whoever you can to roll this out, and if you live in a state where it is already available, please download it, turn it on, and if you get a positive test, enter it into your phone so your close contacts can be notified anonymously that they should get a test.
This is specifically the stuff that Apple and Google have enabled underlying support for, but which states have to each develop apps for. Massachusetts has not rolled one out and is not on the article’s list of states which have announced plans to do so. Boooooo Massachusetts.
“I’m usually the first person to caution that we shouldn’t trust corporations or the government with our sensitive personal data. But after investigating the data flowing out of these state-sponsored apps and services, I haven’t found much danger in having them on my phone.”
When I first heard about this, I was like, yes! Do this now!
And then when I got the update on iOS that supported it, I went in there pronto and tried to turn stuff on. And then I went looking for a Massachusetts app. Crickets.
Months later, still, crickets. Boooooo Massachusetts.
I know y’all — like, _everyone_ is way more freaked out about privacy concerns than I am (you have to understand: I grew up a JW, so I had zero privacy expectations. I figured out how to keep things that I did not want known ... not known. I figured out how to not share information ... while appearing to share information. I told the truth in a way that made people certain I was lying. It is Not Hard, people.), but even this author thinks this is a good idea.
Please, for the love of all of us, pressure whoever you can to roll this out, and if you live in a state where it is already available, please download it, turn it on, and if you get a positive test, enter it into your phone so your close contacts can be notified anonymously that they should get a test.