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Locked iPhones rendered almost useless in Australia's COVIDSafe tracking efforts:
Software engineer Richard Nelson, who was part of a team of researchers that found other bugs in COVIDSafe, has detailed a bug affecting iPhone users, rendering their device basically useless when it comes to tracking efforts.
A locked iPhone with an expired ID cannot generate a new ID. Without an ID, Nelson said the device will record other devices around it, but cannot be recorded by others.
"A device in this state will record other people around it, but will not be recorded by others. If all relevant devices are in this state, no encounters are logged," he wrote.
"One could imagine Alice packing her bag, putting her iPhone in and going out for the day to a football game. With her device in this state, nobody else will record her presence, and if anyone around her tested positive she would not be contacted."
[...] Nelson told ZDNet that if the iPhone user was to unlock their phone, but not necessarily open the COVIDSafe app, a new ID would be fetched.
"If Alice's device was locked and had an expired token, and Alice then unlocks her device to check email, for example, and if Bob's device then scans and picks up Alice's device, Bob will be able to read Alice's ID," Nelson added.
But if the device is locked again first, it won't be read.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by lentilla on Tuesday June 16 2020, @06:16PM (1 child)
Yes, landlines exist. Of course, households that have a landline also have a mobile for each adult and teen. As I alluded above, it would be considered highly unusual not to have a mobile, and also highly unusual for it not to be a smartphone.
The distribution is dependent of the age of householders and their location. Assuming we are talking urban population, the majority of householders over fifty-five will [also] have a landline. Household under the age of forty and it would be unusual to see a landline in use. In rural areas it depends on reception - but don't underestimate the value to a farmer being able to take a call whilst sitting in the tractor.
You mentioned cost as a factor. The government monopoly telecoms provider (Telstra) was privatised in the 1990s - but since they own most of the copper they effectively set the price for landline access. AUD$40 per month just for access. If you needed ADSL (Internet), that was on top of (or bundled with) landline access. So a large portion of urban Australians started the transition twenty years ago, especially those with access to cable Internet or "Naked DSL" (ADSL running over copper telephone lines without an attached telephone service), and particularly younger adults who moved every so often. Then came the National Broadband Network (NBN) which is in the process of kicking everyone off copper - and people are once again reassessing if the landline has any value.
I checked the latest Telstra catalogue that arrived in the letterbox this week, and of the twelve phones advertised there was one non-smartphone. For AUD$9. (!! OK, it's locked to the Telstra network, but just wow.) Or you could buy the entry-level smartphone for AUD$39. Unless you buy a flagship model the price of the access/calls quickly outweigh the cost of the handset.
Another little tidbit of Australiana in passing: "burner" phones don't exist unless you can find a patsy to register the number - when you get a telephone number it has to be tied to some official ID.
Calling costs were another consideration (remember that Australians only pay for originating the call, not for receiving). If you have an all-you-can-eat mobile plan (which most urban dweller under the age of fifty-five have) calling landlines or mobiles is essentially "free" (bundled into the monthly cost). On the other hand, calling a mobile from a landline can sting. So we end up with a odd pricing structure where it is cheaper to call a mobile on the other side of the planet (from a mobile) than it was to place a landline-to-landline call next door.
Unwanted calls to landlines were also a major pest prior to COVID. One could easily get five calls per day. They seem to have abated and the couple a week are now robocalls. "Why don't you check the CallerID?" I hear you ask! The answer: Telstra wanted another $120 per year for that privilege.
So yes, landlines exist, they just tend to take a back-seat to mobiles. Australians really did take to mobiles like ducks to water. The appearance of smartphones in 2007 happened overnight - at the beginning of the year you'd get on the bus and people would be reading newspapers and books. By the end of the year, every face was bathed in the ethereal glow of screens. Most younger urban Australians (that would be 86% [wikipedia.org] of the population) have had a mobile for the last two decades - and those young adults of the year 2000 aren't exactly that young any longer!
For what it is worth; single data-point and all; I know not one single person over the age of thirteen who does not have a smartphone. (I was the last hold-out. I stuck to my beloved hand-me-down Nokia 6300 candy bar until they turned the network off.)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Acabatag on Tuesday June 16 2020, @07:19PM
I deal with farmers on the phone almost every day using their cell phone. OMG! Take those things away from them. It's common to not be able to make out a word they are saying.