Contact Tracing

[new2thegame13]

Hi all, hope everyone is keeping safe.

Have been contemplating going to PA but a thought occurred to me regarding contact tracing. If somebody that had visited a spa and got covid reported that they were there I think the spa would be obligated to provide the requisite info which in this case could be the phone number you call to book with.

Maybe I'm being a little over cautious but just something to consider. Don't think that would go over well with the significant other

 

[jack meoff]

Hi all, hope everyone is keeping safe.

Have been contemplating going to PA but a thought occurred to me regarding contact tracing. If somebody that had visited a spa and got covid reported that they were there I think the spa would be obligated to provide the requisite info which in this case could be the phone number you call to book with.

Maybe I'm being a little over cautious but just something to consider. Don't think that would go over well with the significant other

Simple, block your number when you call.

 

[Jack_attack]

I think (THINK) if you use the government of canada app, developed in partnership with Apple and Google, you'd be identified and informed anonymously without the business having to reach out to you. However, I don't really know the rules and practices around contact tracing.

 

[drstrangelove]

Not sure how the process works, but I suspect that if you come down with Covid-19, whether identified with the app or not, the health unit would ask you for your recent contacts. Of course you could be dishonest and not disclose your visit to a MP or SP.

 

[Bickle]

I believe the app uses the gps capability of your phone. So if you turned out to have covid, your location history would be matched with that of other phones that had been within 6 feet of you. Obviously would have to be time-limited (no point going back more than 2 weeks or whatever the incubation period is) and presumably the app would take 'loiter time' into account (ie exclude cases where phones were only briefly proximate). So the health unit wouldn't have to ask you anything.

 

[JohnHenry]

I believe the app uses the gps capability of your phone. So if you turned out to have covid, your location history would be matched with that of other phones that had been within 6 feet of you. Obviously would have to be time-limited (no point going back more than 2 weeks or whatever the incubation period is) and presumably the app would take 'loiter time' into account (ie exclude cases where phones were only briefly proximate). So the health unit wouldn't have to ask you anything.

Wrong. It only uses Bluetooth. I suggest you read the instructions.

 

[Bickle]

Wrong. It only uses Bluetooth. I suggest you read the instructions.

Cool! Still no need for the health unit to ask questions.

 

[drstrangelove]

Cool! Still no need for the health unit to ask questions.

Wrong again I think. The app only knows about other phones that have downloaded the app. Since the number will initially only be a small percentage of the population, the health unit will still want to interview you for your recent contacts.

 

[Jenesis]

Wrong again I think. The app only knows about other phones that have downloaded the app. Since the number will initially only be a small percentage of the population, the health unit will still want to interview you for your recent contacts.

Hi all, hope everyone is keeping safe.

Have been contemplating going to PA but a thought occurred to me regarding contact tracing. If somebody that had visited a spa and got covid reported that they were there I think the spa would be obligated to provide the requisite info which in this case could be the phone number you call to book with.

Maybe I'm being a little over cautious but just something to consider. Don't think that would go over well with the significant other

If an outbreak happened in the spa, they would have no choice but to report clients who have been.

Now how they gather and store client is a different story, but I am sure that if PA was not being cooperative, the government could get phone records, etc.

I don’t think the government cares about your privacy when an outbreak happens.

 

[rgkv]

If you are doing anything that you need to worry about a significant other...LIKE CATCHING THE VIRUS. maybe you should wait...

 

[Paul1971]

If you are doing anything that you need to worry about a significant other...LIKE CATCHING THE VIRUS. maybe you should wait...

Mates for me never download the app. No way...

 

[Jack_attack]

I will say that the only information PA took from me when I booked was my first name. Whether they're tracking my phone number via caller ID, I don't know, but they'd have a difficult time tracking me down if not.

The app works with bluetooth shooting out randomized encrypted codes to all the phones in the area saying "You're near by random number 123456 and they are covid free" and then if you end up with covid you're supposed to go into the app and enter some code number to confirm, then all the phones you pinged within the last x number of days will get a notification that they were in proximity of someone who was diagnosed. And then of course it will continue to tell phones in your area that a covid positive person is around.

Of course, this only works with phones who have downloaded the app and who have kept bluetooth on. It's fully anonymous otherwise. No GPS, no names, just randomly generated codes going back and forth between phones.

 

[Paul1971]

I will say that the only information PA took from me when I booked was my first name. Whether they're tracking my phone number via caller ID, I don't know, but they'd have a difficult time tracking me down if not.

The app works with bluetooth shooting out randomized encrypted codes to all the phones in the area saying "You're near by random number 123456 and they are covid free" and then if you end up with covid you're supposed to go into the app and enter some code number to confirm, then all the phones you pinged within the last x number of days will get a notification that they were in proximity of someone who was diagnosed. And then of course it will continue to tell phones in your area that a covid positive person is around.

Of course, this only works with phones who have downloaded the app and who have kept bluetooth on. It's fully anonymous otherwise. No GPS, no names, just randomly generated codes going back and forth between phones.

Nah mate. Hard pass ..,

 

[taker2ez]

your cellphone already monitors where you are

 

[Paul1971]

your cellphone already monitors where you are

Really mate? Even with location off? How?

 

[shakenbake]

Really mate? Even with location off? How?

Cell phone tower/cell hand-offs can be logged by cell phone providers and requested by LE and other authorities. That is how cell phone systems work.

 

[justplainbob]

Cell phone tower/cell hand-offs can be logged by cell phone providers and requested by LE and other authorities. That is how cell phone systems work.

Tower connections are always logged - it's fundamental to how billing works.

Turning off location on your phone simply prevents apps running on your phone from accessing your coordinates. The phone still knows where it is. Location services include GPS, cell towers, and even wifi fingerprinting.

It comes down to a choice of whether you trust the system enough to enable it. I do. I also work with some really smart people who have analysed it as part of their jobs.

It's like masks, which is a whole debate on it's own, but the more people using the app the better it will work for everyone. If Kitty winds up infected, I'd like her to be running the app and then put in her (anonymous) code after being tested. Then my phone will tell me that someone (again, anonymous) that I've spent more than 15 minutes with at less than 2m is infected and I'll get my ass down to get tested.

If I am positive and put in my code, my wife's app will alert her. She won't know it was me. In fact, neither of us would have any way to know who exposed the other.

I'm sure there's a joke in here about the 20 minute VIP vs the 15 minute exposure.

 

[bver_hunter]

Tower connections are always logged - it's fundamental to how billing works.

Turning off location on your phone simply prevents apps running on your phone from accessing your coordinates. The phone still knows where it is. Location services include GPS, cell towers, and even wifi fingerprinting.

It comes down to a choice of whether you trust the system enough to enable it. I do. I also work with some really smart people who have analysed it as part of their jobs.

It's like masks, which is a whole debate on it's own, but the more people using the app the better it will work for everyone. If Kitty winds up infected, I'd like her to be running the app and then put in her (anonymous) code after being tested. Then my phone will tell me that someone (again, anonymous) that I've spent more than 15 minutes with at less than 2m is infected and I'll get my ass down to get tested.

If I am positive and put in my code, my wife's app will alert her. She won't know it was me. In fact, neither of us would have any way to know who exposed the other.

I'm sure there's a joke in here about the 20 minute VIP vs the 15 minute exposure.

Yes, turning off the location helps but is not the answer. If you have already arranged the appointment, then when you are leaving to go to the MP, just turn off your cellphone altogether.
If you have made the time to go there then why do you need your cellphone to be turned on?

 

[taker2ez]

did we all forgot how they tracked down OJ years ago?

 

[justplainbob]

did we all forgot how they tracked down OJ years ago?

Let's see, that was 26 years ago, and let's say you'd only remember that detail if you were at least 10. So I'm gonna say at least a third of this board never learned it to forget in the first place.

Now get off my lawn.