quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:
So, I'm still trying to understand, how does the phone know someone has/had the virus in the first place?

One presumes they'll have a compatible app installed, their infected status set in the app, and that app will notify nearby apps.

On the face of it: Not a bad idea. The problem is to what it opens the door. Just like universal gun registration inevitably leads to gun confiscation, to what might this lead in the future?

I would rather Apple and Google not enable this kind of thing.

It should sound that wacky warning sound anytime you come near a COVID19 person, the same Alert that wakes you up at 3 am to tell you someone is missing.

It should also beep faster and louder as you approach them, kinda like a geiger counter does when scanning a bikini clad Ursula Andress just pulled out of Dr.No's contaminated fields....

quote:

Originally posted by kimber1911:
Thinking I can live without a “smart” phone.

What are the best dumb options?

I have been planning this route for awhile, hopefully do it after this billing cycle. At first, a "smart" phone was neat, but now, I just use voice, texting, and maybe a semi-occasional photo for documentation, not really for keeps. I don't use apps, I no longer listen to music on it either. I have a dedicated GPS in my truck, and I hate using my phone to surf the web.

Looking at the Sonim XP5s (brick) or the Kyocera Dura XV Extreme (flip).

I have an iPhone and before that I had a Moto Startac flip phone.

I got a Samsung flip phone when I got a second line through Verizon and although I like the idea of FaceTime with my parents I am about ready to kill the iPhone and switch to the flip phone

given how intrusive Apple and Google have become recently there comes a time when being manipulated goes too far

Folks, it’s just an API. It provides a way for an app to access a phone’s system. You don’t have to download any apps, anymore so than you have to put E85 in your car simply because it can handle it.

Usually we hear about how Apple is a “walled garden” and how much they suck because their ecosystem is closed. They provide an API, and people are still lighting their hair on fire.

I'll think about switching back to a flip phone the day our government actually leverages this API into something nefarious. Until then I'll continue to enjoy the benefits to me of smart phone tech.

You WILL comply, you WILL be assimilated.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Folks, it’s just an API. It provides a way for an app to access a phone’s system. You don’t have to download any apps, anymore so than you have to put E85 in your car simply because it can handle it.

Usually we hear about how Apple is a “walled garden” and how much they suck because their ecosystem is closed. They provide an API, and people are still lighting their hair on fire.

quote:

posted by Ensigmatic:
I'll think about switching back to a flip phone the day our government actually leverages this API into something nefarious. Until then I'll continue to enjoy the benefits to me of smart phone tech.

This, and this.

I typed out a long, well thought out reply. I deleted it, as facts and logic about technology doesn’t matter. Let’s just freak out about this new update.

Google and Apple Contract Tracing

There's not one thing in that link that gives me a warm fuzzy.

Uninstall the app calling the api. You sure it got uninstalled or does it just not show up in the list of programs to uninstall any longer?

Contact tracing requires user consent. Yeah, right. Ever tried to read a software disclosure agreement? Your consent could be buried deep inside a SDA of ANY application that gets installed and 99.9% of users would never know it.

Contact tracing can only be used by government health organizations. Sure it will only be used by "officially sanctioned" agencies. No third party software would ever make calls into the API or harvest information stored by the API. After all, it would be against the law.

I know I can write a Windows application that will NEVER show up in the Task Manager and NEVER show up in the add/remove programs list. I know developers that can do the same thing in iOS and Android. You would need some very specialized tools to find it on any platform, especially if it's embedded in the OS.

I'll be right back, I need to go remove my tinfoil hat.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
This, and this.

I typed out a long, well thought out reply. I deleted it, as facts and logic about technology doesn’t matter. Let’s just freak out about this new update.

And there are some of us who are just fucking tired about "technology", and have no more use for some of it in our lives. Nobody here is "freaking out". For me, a smartphone has gotten to be a stupid thing for me to have, and I own a "high tech" small business.

After years of dealing with a smartphone, first as a necessary evil, it has become an unwanted item.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
There's not one thing in that link that gives me a warm fuzzy.

I'm not particularly enamored of the idea, myself.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
[hidden apps...] You would need some very specialized tools to find it on any platform, especially if it's embedded in the OS.

Particularly problematical on iOS devices, because Apple locks-down access to the system so tightly.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
And there are some of us who are just fucking tired about "technology", and have no more use for some of it in our lives.

That's understandable. It's really too bad, but it's tech companies' own fault some (many?) feel that way. They're churning out tech that aids them, rather than their customers; adding too many bells and whistles in order to distinguish themselves; often designing and coding the software poorly, resulting in poor end-user experiences (even Apple, with its vaunted user-friendliness); documenting how the stuff works poorly, and changing behaviour or user interfaces too much and too frequently.

Once-upon-a-time a comparison used to be made between the user interface in cars and the UI's on computer systems, noting that if cars had been designed and built the way computer tech was, the roads would be utter mayhem. Now, instead of making tech more car-like, they've made cars more tech-like. (E.g.: Where's the windshield wiper controls? How do I set cruise control? Oops! No, that was the radio volume.)

A prime example of all of this was Apple's thing with the one OS update and battery condition. They allege they put code in there to prevent mobile devices with weak batteries from exhausting themselves. Even if one accepts that explanation at face value, problem is: They didn't tell anybody they were doing that.

So, no: I don't blame anybody for feeling "Ok, this is the straw that breaks this camel's back."

(Btw: I installed the new iOS update this morning.)

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
I don't use blue tooth, and I don't do applications. I have an iPhone 11, with all the SIRI, analytic, advertising, position tracking, and other features shut off. I don't do social media. I don't have any social media accounts. I don't do any information sharing. The only way this feature will impact me or my phone is if I install an application and grant consent, neither of which will happen.

You sure about that iOS device you're using? Maybe stick to flying and stop giving advice on OS capabilities? You know ZERO about those issues. I respect your opinion on aircraft but you're woefully deficient on software issues and you seem like a dumb ass posting that. Please inform me about your expertise on how an API works, encrypted keys, mutating viruses (especially from a manufacturer), and seeing how an app works. Maybe you can save me some time. Our team has been in a reactive mode but, God with us, you will solve this problem.

It's an API. A plug socket for an appliance you don't have unless you go get it. It's a capability if you wish to pursue employing it. If not, it does nothing. Fake news.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Fake news.

Another term Para maybe should consider banning.

It's a poor headline that inaccurately asserts what's really going on, but the story, itself, is not "fake news." Apple did indeed include a tracking API in its latest iOS update.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
It's an API. A plug socket for an appliance you don't have unless you go get it. It's a capability if you wish to pursue employing it. If not, it does nothing. Fake news.

Who calls the API, it does take (for now) a key to do it but keys have been broken (a govt leaker or insider). You're wrong. This is not a good or harmless thing.

For all those saying “relax”, sure enough the latest iOS from Apple doesn’t require an app for tracing to occur. One can now opt-in without an app. What do you want to bet that under special circumstances being opted-in isn’t a choice.

iOS13.7 should instead be referred to as iOS19.84

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dakor,