“Citizen” has been an app by which people can be alerted about unofficial neighborhood crimes. But, recently, this app partnered with Los Angeles County, launching the contact-tracing app called “SafePass” which tracks users’ locations and symptoms for the virus. According to CNET’s article, “If someone you’ve been in contact with later tests positive for COVID-19 and marks themselves on the app, the app notifies you about the exposure and provides details on when and where it happened” (Ng). The Citizen app has been known to create false alarms of crimes and spread panic to the public. So, now there is a worry that SafePass will do the same in which there might be a greater panic involving the spread of the virus.
Furthermore, Angel Diaz, a liberty and national security counsel “said he saw several red flags with the service, specifically with how it shows exposures and the amount of location data it takes” (Ng). The app is said not to function properly without access to both Bluetooth and GPS for location data. This is odd because COVID-tracing features from Apple and Google, for instance, don’t require the users’ GPS information. Instead they use the Bluetooth signals in order to calculate distance. Not to mention, the app’s “privacy policy also said that your location data could be shared with government agencies, without clarifying which agencies those could be” (Ng). Personally, I would not feel comfortable using SafePass. Even though the app could help with staying aware and knowing if I come across the virus, I don’t like how my privacy might be invaded and I don’t want my information to be used for other purposes. Honestly, I would probably feel more secure using Apple or Google’s features for COVID-tracking.
I believe that the vast majority of people would not like their location and other private information to be exposed to the public, or to share it with some unspecified agencies. Obviously, as you said, the others like Google does not need Bluetooth and GPS to provide location information for tracking covid-19 cases. By contrast, I would prefer to use Google rather than SafePass to avoid covid-19 cases. Moreover, with the development of science and technology, even if we don’t consider whether safepass will leak private information to other agents, it will threaten the security just by keeping Bluetooth on all the time because they need to use the tracing app. Some malicious people may also take the opportunity to use Bluetooth connection to move between people’s private devices to get information. In addition, Bluetooth is not the best choice to track people’s location. In many cases, the accuracy of Bluetooth may be affected. Therefore, in the current situation of covid-19, I prefer to stay at home more and go less to places where people are crowded for leisure and entertainment, so as to prevent cases of exposure to covid-19, rather than over-relying on these technologies which may affect privacy and security but are not perfect.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-tracking-apps-raise-questions-about-bluetooth-security-11588239000
I agree that it seems the app is invading its user’s privacy. I would not feel comfortable having my location tracked at all times and my data being shared with unnamed government agencies. The idea of an app that does contact tracing seems like a good idea and a smart way to try to stop the spread of COVID-19, but the logistics are hard to figure out. In the article I read, it says that the app automatically deletes the user’s data within 30 days and 24 hours if the app is deleted. That does not change the fact that the data can be shared with government agencies. Also, for an app like this to be successful in contact tracing, the majority of the population would have to be using it. Contact tracing is definitely a good way to try to track COVID-19, but with so many people in a city, it is hard to really track everyone. Another problem with the app is creating a false panic for people who think they may have come in contact with someone who tested positive. If they do not have the virus, they probably worried everyone they had come in contact with as well and caused a lot of extra tests to be taken. It is hard to find a good solution to stop the spread of COVID-19, but it seems this app may be invading the privacy of users and creating false panics for people.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-09-11/los-angeles-citizen-contact-tracing-safepass
I do not believe that this app gives anyone any privacy during COVID-19. I agree that I would not feel comfortable using this app, but I believe a lot of people are using this app during COVID to track their symptoms and tell someone who they have been around so that they can contact trace. I think that this app is just a waste of time for people because when you test positive for COVID-19, the department of health contacts you directly every single day to talk about how you are feeling and who you have seen to try and contract trace everything and figure out how bad the symptoms are and how you are handling your quarantine. The app could be helpful if people were making sure they were being honest about their symptoms, but being on an app that gives information to so many different people, people might not feel comfortable using this app
After reading the post, I felt the same as you that I do not want my personal data to be stored or used for tracking. Even thgough this is a good idea which the app allows users to stay alert and to get notified if there are people around get tested positive, I just feel unsafe that my GPS information is exposed. Since I take my privacy very seriously, I do not want any app to track my real-time location.
As Simmon (vice president and board member of the Open Source Initiative) said, “pervasive GPS tracking is fraught with unintended consequences, even with proper controls in place”, with the addition that SafePass does not make it clear how users’ location data would be stored, nor it does not state which government agencies would get the data and what is the specific purpose behind this.
To sum up, I would not download this app because of the concerns on privacy. I would rather protect myself by wearing a mask when going out, or staying at home as possible as I can.
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/citizen-apps-new-contact-tracing-feature-raises-privacy-red-flags
I agree with your opinion. I think it is important to stop the spread of COVID-19. But sharing my location information at any time does not make me feel safe, and even makes me feel more dangerous than the epidemic. Because most people can get a general understanding of the epidemic situation in various regions from news and social media. The most important thing is that I always wear a mask wherever I go. I think this is enough to ensure health. But the security problem of shared locations is far greater than that of the epidemic. Software designed for emergencies is good, but I think new laws are needed to protect our privacy.
For me, I take my personal data very seriously. I hate how little control we have over our personal data and how much freedom companies have to buy, sell, and use our data in almost anyway they see fit. I even use a VPN to at least protect some data from prying eyes and my ISP. So, personally I would never download or use an app like this in the first place. Anytime I use an app that requires my location data, I always make the settings so it only accesses my location when I’m using the app. This way, it isn’t tracking me in the background. But what makes this specific situation even worse, is like you have stated, their terms of service says they can share your location data with government agencies when they choose. That is 100% dangerous and honestly I would question people who agree to this complete breach of privacy. I think the only way forward to take back our data and privacy is new legislation like the policies Andrew Yang proposed earlier this year. Overall, I agree with you, but i think this situation highlights the more widespread issues of data and privacy in the 21st century.
After reading what you had to say and what some articles had to say about this app, I’m definitely pretty sketched out by it. First of all, like many apps, this app has you put in lots of personal information that goes to the government. From what I read, the app gets rid of your data after 30 days, but how is anyone supposed to know that this info actually goes away. I sort of assumed that once you put your information somewhere online or on an app, it stays there forever. I could be very wrong, I just don’t think this information simply disappears. Based on what you said about the app creating false alarms, I completely agree. I’d like to think that everyone using the app is being honest, but there are plenty of people out there who really just don’t care about being infected or passing it along, potentially leading to problems. Whether the problems being people faking information about themselves/friends being infected for fun, or putting fake information out there for people to specifically not come to their area. There could be many other ways people mess around with the app, I just think there are probably a lot less people taking the app seriously than it should. I’ve always been skeptical of how true or accurate applications and systems from the app store or Google are, and I will always remain skeptical because there are plenty of people out there working against the best interest of society. And probably more now than ever because of how easy it is to hide behind a screen.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-09-11/los-angeles-citizen-contact-tracing-safepass
This app is one of many being talked about by news agencies. We can tie this to our discussion last week on Tik Tok and security. When we click, “I agree” in the terms and conditions, we don’t really know what we are agreeing with, until someone actually reads it. I remember hearing about the possibility of these kinds of apps back in March, when the lockdown was in full swing. Yet we’ve made it this far without the app tracking our every move, so why start now?
I do agree with you. Especially after the CDC released the fact that they had been replacing a large percent of covid-positive deaths, with regular covid deaths. This caused fear in the public’s eye which only encouraged a lot of politicians to claim they could “fix” the COVID problems if they were president. I think this causes a lot of concern in the public, which ultimately defeats the purpose of the app. In short, we need to be sure we know what data apps are collecting, and how to control what data they have access to and are able to share.
I completely agree with your statements about privacy. I don’t feel that an app like that requires so much information to function properly, not to mention the fact that they share that information. This reminds me of the discussion we had in class about privacy and how there seems to be none in technology now a days. It is crazy how imbedded on so much writing is a loophole for companies to use this information while violating privacy. This made me think about the terms and agreement that we agree to on apps without even reading them. Should we begin to read them fully? Will reading the information still prevent us from downloading the app? These questions really make me think since, at the end, we basically allow companies to take this data and use it as such. I believe that we need to better inform ourselves with what we sign before downloading an app.
The article you chose was very interesting and you did a great job of analyzing it and providing your own input. As we discussed in class a few classes ago, there is not much privacy left in the world. Privacy has become more of a loose interpretation than an actual definition. But, I would have to agree with you, I think that this app invades the user’s privacy a little too much. I think that the idea is great and that this app will be very useful, but I would also feel uncomfortable using it. It is ironic that the app supposedly keeps them safe, but also knows a lot about the users life. I have no doubt that advertisers would love to get their hands on this apps information. When you really think about it, I am sure the app starts to learn a lot about you, such as where you spend your time. They might know your work schedule and your home address and that is the part that scares me. With all of that information are you really in control? Overall, I really enjoyed reading your post a lot.
Social distancing and contact tracing is something we should take very seriously and try to do well but I think this app may take it too far. Tracking your citizen’s exact location is a serious infraction on privacy. It is not necessary considering other contact tracing apps are able to function and percent the spread of COIVID-19 without the need for users’ exact location.
I think that Los Angles should be implementing some sort of application to aide in contact tracing considering their struggles with containing the disease, but it does not have to be done in this way. Also in addition to tracking users’ locations stating that their locations could be shared with unspecified government agencies is a complete overstep and again not necessary to simply track the spread of COVID and prevent others from coming into contact with infected individuals.
Source:https://www.governing.com/security/Los-Angeles-Contact-Tracing-App-Comes-with-Controversy.html
The concerns regarding privacy for this app are valid and striking. I agree with you in the sense I would not feel comfortable using this app. On another note, due to the lack of seriousness of this virus, I’m sure not many people download this app or lie about the symptoms/ who they have been with. They probably do this for reasons like not wanting to cause false alarm, not taking the virus seriously, or because they do not want to quarantine during these times. This app almost seems unnecessary to me because in my experience if you test positive for Covid-19, the health department collects information like who you have been with, when and where you think you contracted it, and tracks down everyone exposed to enforce a 14 day quarantine on them. I understand that it provides even more of a safety net due to the severity of the virus though.