Covid app

[mosssideblue]

And that's bad because ...?

?
Too many false positives

 

[Le Havre Oswald]

Is this the app

 

[TheRemainsOfTheDave]

?
Too many false positives

There's different ways to look at it. There'll be x %age of false positives from tests so of course with more tests that will capture more false positives but also capture the real positives. People (not tested) choosing to isolate because they have been in contact with a false positive person isn't a bad thing.

 

[BlueHammer85]

apparently this only supports iOS 13+ which is pretty high!. leaves out a lot of older devices.

1 in 5 won't be able to get it

 

[willipp]

apparently this only supports iOS 13+ which is pretty high!. leaves out a lot of older devices.

It said on BBC breakfast this morning that phones iphone 6 and before wont be able to use it. They are pretty ancient so most i imagine will be able to.

 

[willipp]

I've not studied this one indepth yet.

but the Google/Apple systemits using now should be very private.

you download the app, you get a an ID not linked to any of your details. when your out and about, if the app deems you to have had been in contact with someone it stores there ID on your device.

when you click "I have symptoms" the app then uploads your ID to an "infected" database.

periodically the app on your device downloads that database and checks it against the ID's stored on your devices and tells you if you have been in contact with someone now showing as infected and warns you.

other than the list of infected its all on device rather than central. nothing that can identify "you" is uploaded anywhere and no location information is taken.

How do they confirm if someone has Covid or not? So if i download it, go for a walk in town and then mark myself as having it, would that then alert all those people ive been around?

 

[mosssideblue]

There's different ways to look at it. There'll be x %age of false positives from tests so of course with more tests that will capture more false positives but also capture the real positives. People (not tested) choosing to isolate because they have been in contact with a false positive person isn't a bad thing.

Several examples expressed on tv this morning of how false positives could be made, phones stored in adjacent lockers, people isolated via a wall, software glitches etc.

I don't know the answer to this one. Assume Mrs x gets notified she has been in contact with a person believed to be positive, although she for certain knows she hasn't had any close proximity. She will be expected to self isolate for 14 days. Her husband and teenage daughter I assume, will also receive isolating notifications. Where does that chain stop?

 

[TheRemainsOfTheDave]

Several examples expressed on tv this morning of how false positives could be made, phones stored in adjacent lockers, people isolated via a wall, software glitches etc.

I don't know the answer to this one. Assume Mrs x gets notified she has been in contact with a person believed to be positive, although she for certain knows she hasn't had any close proximity. She will be expected to self isolate for 14 days. Her husband and teenage daughter I assume, will also receive isolating notifications. Where does that chain stop?

Yes I can see how that might happen. Maybe if people just remember to turn off their bluetooth while they are not with their phone for a period but nothing will be perfect I guess.

 

[grunge]

The privacy and impingement of civil liberties issues with this app make me very uncomfortable, but I've downloaded it anyway. Will see how we get on. If that 15% number quoted above is correct, then i'd imagine that's pretty attainable.

what privacy issues are you worried about specifically here?

 

[feelymcfeel]

what privacy issues are you worried about specifically here?

Do you know the specific alogorithms behind the app and exactly what it reports, and to whom?