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Australian MPs Refuse COVID-19 App Due to Privacy Concerns

posted by Fnord666 on Monday April 20 2020, @08:47AM   
from the If-it's-good-for-the-public-it's-good-for-the-MPs dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Do you want your government tracking you by your mobile phone in the fight against COVID-19? In Australia members of Parliament have refused to install the COVID Trace app to track COVID-19 transmission. The code for the app, due to be released in a few weeks, will be open sourced and the government promises to not keep any data longer than required for the current pandemic emergency.

After the complete screwup of the last census, the debacle that is eHealth, data leakage from credit card transactions, and dismal state of privacy today how can anyone have any confidence in this type of 'help'?

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Original Submission

• Worrying about the wrong thing Worrying about the wrong thing (Score: 5, Interesting) by driverless on Monday April 20 2020, @09:13AM (2 children)

  by driverless (4770) on Monday April 20 2020, @09:13AM (#985034)

  Everyone who carries a cellphone, which is pretty much anyone and certainly all Australian MPs, are already tracked every minute of the day via cellphone data. The only difference is that the Covid19 tracking is made explicit and public and placed under the rule of law while cellphone tracking data can be obtained at any point in secret via a production order (which is technically rule-of-law but mostly just a figleaf to say the rule of law is being followed). If they really are worried about this rather than just playing it up for political effect, they should reform existing regulations around surveillance of members of the public.

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+3
  Insightful=1, Interesting=2, Total=3
  Extra 'Interesting' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		5

• Re:Worrying about the wrong thing (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2020, @11:31AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2020, @11:31AM (#985048)

  You think an unmodified Bluetooth transceiver has the same tracking resolution and scope as a cell tower. Please hand in your geek card... (SMH)

  Parent

• Re:Worrying about the wrong thing (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2020, @02:23PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 20 2020, @02:23PM (#985099)

  I submitted this one for the pure irony of it.
  Our leaders won't lead from the front.
  Unwilling to do what they are asking their people to do.

  It's only now they are realising that sending around electronic copies of books.. is illegal! oh no! https://www.echo.net.au/2020/04/was-turnbulls-memoir-pirated-by-scomos-office/ [echo.net.au] whatever shall they do!

  Now they want to get the police involved [news.com.au]

  Malcolm Turnbull’s publisher has threatened to call in the Australian Federal Police to probe cabinet ministers in the Morrison Government who may have shared ‘pirate’ copies of his new book.

  Accusing one staffer in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office of a “massive breach” of copyright, the publisher Hardie Grant has announced it could also subpoena Defence Minister Marise Payne, who admitted on live television she had also “received and deleted” an illegal copy.

  The dramatic escalation of the row came as conservatives in the NSW Liberal Party branch threatened to expel the former Prime Minister from the Liberal Party for dishing the dirt on his colleagues in his new book, A Bigger Picture.

  It's an absolute cack and a complete cockup. These are our leaders, everyone. Take note of what they do!

  Parent