COVID-19 Could Provide Cover for Surveillance Expansion

guest · Apr 23, 2020

Apple and Google will release COVID-19 contact-tracing tools next week
France's own COVID-19 tracking app will arrive in mid-May
April 23, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/tim-cook-eu-google-apple-api-130642940.html

Apple and Google’s COVID-19 contact tracking technology will be released to developers on April 28th, weeks before the companies initially said it would arrive. Tim Cook revealed the information to European commissioner Thierry Breton after the two met by video conference, according to Les Echos.
During the meeting, Breton pressed Apple to guarantee that the contact tracking technology would be in line with EU privacy laws, by being anonymous, voluntary, transparent, temporary, secure and interoperable.
Click to expand...

France is also developing its own COVID-19 tracking app, set to be ready on May 11th when the pandemic lockdown orders are to be lifted in the nation. However, the French government plans to use Bluetooth technology, in part, to do that, and is stymied by restrictions Apple has placed on how third-party apps can use Bluetooth data.
Click to expand...

Krusty · Apr 23, 2020

Australia's coronavirus tracing app's data storage contract goes offshore to Amazon

Government insiders and technology industry players have raised alarms about the Federal Government's new COVID-19 tracing app, after a contract for its data storage went offshore to US retail and technology giant Amazon.

Bureaucrats inside the Government's Digital Transformation Agency voiced concerns about the awarding of the contract to an overseas provider when several wholly Australian-owned cloud storage services have been security vetted for precisely such high-level contracts.

The ABC has also confirmed the tender was a limited, invitation-only opportunity initially run by the Department of Home Affairs, which is principally responsible for border protection and national security.

Issuing the contract to Amazon may also mean the Australian data is obtainable by US law enforcement under a 2018 law that allows them to obtain information held by US-registered data companies no matter where in the world that information is held.

That stands in contrast to assurances given by Attorney-General Christian Porter on Wednesday that he would prevent Australian police from accessing the data.

"The Government has already made the decision not to make any information collected by the app available for other purposes, including law enforcement investigations," Mr Porter said.
Click to expand...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04...services-for-coronavirus-tracing-app/12176682

guest · Apr 24, 2020

Connecticut town drops drone program to combat COVID-19 spread over privacy concerns
April 24, 2020
https://www.scmagazine.com/home/sec...combat-covid-19-spread-over-privacy-concerns/

Drones chasing people around during a worldwide pandemic to determine if they’ve been infected with the coronavirus seemed too much like something out of a sci-fi movie, fraught with privacy and security concerns, for a Connecticut town that joined, then quickly ditched its plans to participate in, the Draganfly drone Flatten the Curve program.

“In our good faith effort to get ahead of the virus and potential need to manage and safely monitor crowds and social distancing in this environment, our announcement was perhaps misinterpreted, not well-received, and posed many additional questions,” First Selectman Jim Marpe said in a statement.
In an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, the Westport Police Department had planned to test the drones to enforce social distancing and to detect fever or coughing from up to 190 feet away. But those plans troubled citizens and privacy experts alike.
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 24, 2020

Global Surveillance in the Wake of COVID-19
April 24, 2020
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/04/global_surveill.html

OneZero is tracking thirty countries around the world who are implementing surveillance programs in the wake of COVID-19:

The most common form of surveillance implemented to battle the pandemic is the use of smartphone location data, which can track population-level movement down to enforcing individual quarantines. Some governments are making apps that offer coronavirus health information, while also sharing location information with authorities for a period of time

One of the most alarming measures being implemented is in Argentina, where those who are caught breaking quarantine are being forced to download an app that tracks their location. In Hong Kong, those arriving in the airport are given electronic tracking bracelets that must be synced to their home location through their smartphone's GPS signal.
Click to expand...

OneZero: We Mapped How the Coronavirus Is Driving New Surveillance Programs Around the World

In an attempt to stem the tide of the coronavirus pandemic, at least 30 governments around the world have instituted temporary or indefinite efforts to single out infected individuals or maintain quarantines. Many of these efforts, in turn, undermine personal privacy.
It’s a complex trade-off: Governments need information to create containment strategies and know where to focus resources.

To document global surveillance measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic, OneZero compiled press reports from more than 25 countries where potential privacy issues are occurring.
So far, OneZero has found reports of potentially privacy infringing technology being deployed by 30 countries, listed below. We’ll be updating this list on a weekly basis.
Click to expand...

hawki · Apr 24, 2020

"Apple, Google Boost Privacy Protections for Contact-Tracing Tool

Apple Inc. and Google said that they are putting stronger privacy protections in their upcoming contact-tracing tool for Covid-19 and that an early version will launch for developers next week.

The technology companies said the system’s tracking keys will be generated in more random ways, and that Bluetooth data will now be encrypted, making it more difficult for specific users to be identified by hackers..."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rce=twitter&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business

guest · Apr 24, 2020

NHS says its contact tracing app will be transparent
April 24, 2020
https://www.neowin.net/news/nhs-says-its-contact-tracing-app-will-be-transparent

In a post on its NHSX blog, the National Health Service (NHS) said that its contact tracing app, for use in the UK, will uphold its commitments to transparency, ethics, and the law. It has consulted with experts and the general public and created an ethics advisory board to ensure the app doesn’t cross boundaries that it’s not supposed to.
The NHS said that it has prioritised security and privacy in all stages of the development of the app too.

The Open Rights Group (ORG), and other organisations concerned with civil liberties, have been doing their best to try to hold the NHS to account over its app to ensure that the proper protections are in place. It said that it’s advocating the draft Coronavirus Safeguards Bill which will help bring protections into law.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, ORG points out that as the NHS app is using a centralised method of contact matching and this could mean it's impossible for it to use Google’s and Apple’s APIs. Without the API, iOS users could be forced to keep their screen unlocked so that Bluetooth keeps working.

Earlier this week, the NHS said it found a way to work around this issue, but it’s not clear if this is a legitimate workaround or whether Apple will update its operating system to “fix” the issue.
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 25, 2020

Belgian port to test virus bracelets amid tech tracing fears
April 23, 2020
https://apnews.com/ce9411c1d93eadedacd73cb402ea7f18

As the spread of the coronavirus eases and people gradually return to work pondering the impact it might have on their jobs, Europe’s second-biggest port is getting ready to test a device aimed at helping thousands of people employed there to respect social distancing.

The bracelets are worn like a watch.
The bracelets ensure physical distancing and collect no data. No plans have been announced at the port to use them to track workers’ movements or measure their performance as some companies elsewhere have explored doing. But they can be programmed to provide information.
Click to expand...

Isabelle Schoemann of the European Trade Union Confederation said the organization wasn’t consulted about the testing. She argues that most people don’t need technology to help them understand how far away they should stand from their co-workers.

“We are kind of having a test on a real-life basis, and it is a bit worrying that we are testing that on people, and that we are testing that without having been able to look into what kind of guarantees this technology would bring before the test,” Schoemann told The Associated Press.

“Once you start implementing these things it’s very difficult to go back,” she said. “Why only use it on the work floor? Maybe you should also use it on your way to work and back, and maybe you should also use it in a shop in order to have access.”
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 25, 2020

Apple and Google pledge to shut down coronavirus tracker when pandemic ends
The companies released more details on their ambitious public health project
April 24, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/24/...acing-tracker-exposure-notification-shut-down

On Friday, Apple and Google revised their ambitious automatic contact-tracing proposal, just two weeks after the system was first announced. An Apple representative said the changes were the result of feedback both companies had received about the specifications and how they might be improved. The companies also released a “Frequently Asked Questions” page, which rehashes much of the information already made public.

On a call accompanying the announcement, representatives from each company pledged for the first time to disable the service after the outbreak had been sufficiently contained. Such a decision would have to be made on a region-by-region basis, and it’s unclear how public health authorities would reach such a determination
However, the engineers stated definitively that the APIs were not intended to be maintained indefinitely.
Click to expand...

None of Friday’s changes address the question of how health authorities will verify positive diagnoses to prevent trolls or other false positives, and it seems likely that question will be addressed by specific app developers.
One of the biggest lingering questions around the project is whether it will be adopted by public health agencies, and the companies gave no further details on specific partnerships.
Click to expand...

Krusty · Apr 26, 2020

Coronavirus tracing app COVIDSafe released by Government to halt spread of COVID-19 in Australia

Australia's coronavirus tracing app, dubbed COVIDSafe, has been released as the nation seeks to contain the spread of the deadly pandemic.

Smartphone users can download the app for iPhones and Android but will be unable to register their information until after 6:00pm AEST.

People who download the app will be asked to supply a name, which can be a pseudonym, their age range, a mobile number and post code.

Those who download the software will be notified if they have contact with another user who tests positive for coronavirus.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged the app as being essential for Australia to be able to ease coronavirus-induced restrictions across the country.

Using Bluetooth technology, the app "pings" or exchanges a "digital handshake" with another user when they come within 1.5 metres of each other, and then logs this contact and encrypts it.
Click to expand...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04...idsafe-australia-government-covid-19/12186130

The data remains encrypted on a user's phone for 21 days, after which it's deleted if they haven't been in contact with a confirmed case.

The application will have two stages of consent that people will have to agree to: initially when they download the app so data can be collected, and secondly to release that data on their phone if they're diagnosed with the virus.

If a person with the app tested positive to COVID-19, and provided they consent to sharing the information, it will be sent to a central server.
Click to expand...

[...]
Mr Hunt will also seek an agreement with the states and territories to ensure the information is only used for contact tracing.

"The safeguards that have been put in place are the strongest ever," he said.

"Not even a court order can penetrate the law [that prevents the release of the data].

"Not even a court order during an investigation of an alleged crime would be allowed to be used [to access the data].

"So, to the best of their knowledge, there has never been a set of protections like those which have been put in place under law for this app."
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 26, 2020

Germany flips on smartphone contact tracing, backs Apple and Google
April 26, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-europe-tech-idUSKCN22807J

Germany changed course on Sunday over which type of smartphone technology it wanted to use to trace coronavirus infections, backing an approach supported by Apple and Google along with a growing number of other European countries.

Chancellery Minister Helge Braun and Health Minister Jens Spahn told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that Berlin would adopt a ‘decentralized’ approach to digital contact tracing, in so doing abandoning a home-grown alternative.
Germany as recently as Friday backed an initiative called Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), whose centralized approach was criticized by hundreds of scientists in an open letter last Monday as opening the way to state surveillance.

“We will back a decentralized architecture that will only store contacts on devices. That is good for trust,” Braun told ARD public television in an interview.
Click to expand...

Germany’s change of tack would bring its approach into line with that taken by Apple and Alphabet’s Google, which said this month they would develop new tools to support decentralized contact tracing.

DP-3T said in a statement that it is was “very happy to see that Germany is adopting a decentralized approach to contact tracing and we look forward to its next steps implementing such a technique in a privacy-preserving manner.”
PEPP-PT said it planned to issue a statement in due course.
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 26, 2020

hawki said: ↑

"Mass school closures in the wake of the coronavirus are driving a new wave of student surveillance
Colleges are racing to sign deals with ‘online proctor’ companies that watch students through their webcams while they take exams...

“Online proctor” services like these have already policed millions of American college exams, tapping into students’ cameras, microphones and computer screens when they take their tests at home...
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
Click to expand...

Are Schools Forcing Students To Install Spyware That Invades Their Privacy As A Result Of The Coronavirus Lockdown?
April 24, 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/seanla...ult-of-the-coronavirus-lockdown/#726a6d47638d

A few weeks back I logged into our learning management system and noticed a new option in the sidebar, something called ProctorU. I didn’t pay much attention to it.
Then I started seeing fellow instructors sharing stories about online exam proctoring services.

As schools and universities have moved online because of coronavirus, many have signed contracts with online exam monitoring and proctoring services that go by names like ProctorU, Proctorio, Examity, Honorlock, and Respondus LockDown, among others. There is growing concern about student privacy as a result.

Some universities have pointed to these issues in their decisions not to use proctoring software. Fordham University rejected the software as “prohibitively expensive” and “overly complicated.”
Click to expand...

Resistance to these tools is not only a U.S. phenomenon. Students in at least two universities in Australia have protested the use of proctoring tools like Proctorio and ProctorU.

There are no easy answers. One of my fall courses will be a large lecture that is primarily exam based. If my university ends up remaining online like some others, I too will be faced with making hard choices about how to assess student learning in a way that is fair, equitable, and respectful of student privacy and security. Despite the difficulty, I believe that these are values that are worth upholding.
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 26, 2020

Public health surveillance in India: A question of an individual’s liberty and privacy amid a pandemic
April 25, 2020
https://theleaflet.in/public-health...ividuals-liberty-and-privacy-amid-a-pandemic/

THE world is grappling with the kind of situation that it has never seen before. The rapid pace of COVID-19 spread made it necessary for the governments around the world to use extreme means and measures that would otherwise be considered Orwellian. These emergency measures include attempts to effectively enforce a lockdown and, strictly prohibit and track movements of the citizens in a bid to break the chain of infection.

As governments are attempting to contain the contagious virus, the use of technology for monitoring people undergoing quarantine has doubled. Considering the scale of the crisis, civil liberty activists and privacy advocates seem to have tacitly embraced such Orwellian state of affairs, unlike the ordinary times.
It is obvious that this pandemic is reshaping our relationship with surveillance technology, albeit to the fear of some the surveillance could become a norm.
Click to expand...

There are certain unique reasons due to which implementation of these emergency measures, in India, is worrisome.
No clarity on the legal basis for surveillance measures
Firstly, in India, neither the Central nor the state governments have provided any legal basis for directing such measures. [...]
This is particularly dangerous in a country like India where even a data protection statute does not exist.
Several surveillance techniques are disproportionate and unnecessary
More than half of the population of the country doesn’t have access to internet services. In the context of such a scenario, how is surveillance through a mobile application is a necessary measure?
Unregulated tech-enabled surveillance without any legal oversight or check
Secondly, the details regarding the technical capabilities of the government for surveillance are largely a secret.
Click to expand...

As pointed out by Deborah Brown, a senior digital-rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, “surveillance measures should come with a legal basis, be narrowly tailored to meet a legitimate public health goal, and contain safeguards against abuse”.
Click to expand...

hawki · Apr 26, 2020

"Chinese Company Suspected of Spying on U.S. Citizens Donates Police Drones to 22 States

Chinese company Da Jiang Innovations, the world’s largest maker of drones, has donated drones to 43 law enforcement agencies operating in 22 U.S. states to enforce social distancing rules...

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned in a memo that DJI was 'selectively targeting government and privately owned entities within these sectors to expand its ability to collect and exploit sensitive U.S. data.'

The Interior Department in 2019 grounded its entire fleet of DJI-manufactured drones, which had been used to surveil U.S. land, due to concerns that China was using the drones to gather data on critical U.S. infrastructure..."

https://www.nationalreview.com/news...-citizens-donates-police-drones-to-22-states/

guest · Apr 27, 2020

Israel's top court says government must legislate COVID-19 phone-tracking
April 27, 2020
https://in.reuters.com/article/heal...gislate-covid-19-phone-tracking-idINKCN229069

Citing grave dangers to privacy, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Sunday that the government must bring its use of mobile phone tracking deployed in the battle against the new coronavirus under legislation.

Accepting petitions from Israeli rights groups, the Supreme Court said the government must begin legislation by April 30 and complete it within a few weeks if it wanted to continue tracking people’s phones in its bid to stop the virus spreading.

“The state’s choice to use its preventative security service for monitoring those who wish it no harm, without their consent, raises great difficulties and a suitable alternative, compatible with the principles of privacy, must be found,” the court said.
“Israel must not be the sole democracy which operates its secret security service to monitor its citizens, even in the fight against the coronavirus,” ACRI said on Twitter.
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 27, 2020

Companies bet on AI cameras to track social distancing, limit liability
April 27, 2020
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/foc...-social-distancing-limit-liability-2020-04-27

Stores and workplaces eager to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus are equipping existing security cameras with artificial intelligence software that can track compliance with health guidelines including social distancing and mask-wearing.

It will allow them to show not only workers and customers, but also insurers and regulators, that they are monitoring and enforcing safe practices.

"The last thing we want is for the governor to shut all our projects down because no one is behaving," said Jen Suerth, vice president at Chicago-based Pepper Construction, which introduced software from SmartVid.io this month to detect workers grouping at an Oracle Corp project in Deerfield, Illinois.
"Video in the store today to ensure social distancing remains to identify shoplifters tomorrow."
Click to expand...

Several customers said the technology, which can cost $1,000 or more annually to analyze data from a handful of off-the-shelf video cameras, is cheaper than dedicating staff to standing guard. It also can be safer, as some guards enforcing distancing have clashed with people protesting safety measures, they said.

"It's another set of eyes on the site," Suerth said, adding that software is less prone to mistakes than people and the "accuracy we're seeing is really high."
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 27, 2020

Survey: 4 in 5 Americans Worried Pandemic Will Encourage Government Surveillance
April 27, 2020
https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-te...ill-encourage-government-surveillance/164950/

A majority of Americans are unwilling to trade their personal privacy right for even temporary increased government surveillance measures aimed at tracking the coronavirus spread, according to a survey released Monday.

The survey found 52% of Americans believed their personal privacy rights trump the government’s potential use of technologies—such as collecting location-tracking data gleaned from smartphones—to combat the pandemic.
The survey also revealed 79% of Americans were either “worried” or “very worried” that any intrusive tracking measures enacted by the government would extend long after the coronavirus is defeated.

Only 27% of those surveyed would give an app permission to track their location, and 65% said they would disapprove of the government collecting their data or using facial recognition to track their whereabouts.
Click to expand...

“Even faced with a major global health threat, most people in America would oppose intrusive technological measures such as tracking apps to contain the spread of the virus,” said Edvardas Mikalauskas, spokesperson for CyberNews.com, which conducted the survey. The survey was based on the polling of a random sample of nearly 1,300 American adults.
The survey comes as the federal government grapples with how best to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Click to expand...

Krusty · Apr 27, 2020

Krusty said: ↑

Australia's coronavirus tracing app's data storage contract goes offshore to Amazon

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04...services-for-coronavirus-tracing-app/12176682
Click to expand...

Australian Government coronavirus tracing app data held by Amazon may not be protected from US subpoena

Global tech giant Amazon may not be able to protect Australian Government data held in its Australian servers — including data gathered by the COVID-19 tracing app released on Sunday — from US subpoenas, according to legal experts and crossbenchers.
Click to expand...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04...p-data-may-not-be-protected-from-usa/12189372

Krusty · Apr 27, 2020

Australia has COVIDSafe. Here is how other countries are using contact tracing apps in the fight against coronavirus

More than 2 million Australians have downloaded the Government's COVID-19 tracing app, COVIDSafe.

The announcement the app was in development kickstarted a national debate over privacy safeguards, and the app's launch on Sunday prompted further questions about functionality.

With almost every country in the world grappling with ways to manage the coronavirus spread, many other nations are deploying similar digital contact-tracing tools.

So what do the tracing technologies look like in other countries, and what lessons can Australia learn from their rollout?
Click to expand...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04...ontact-tracing-apps-around-the-world/12189438

Krusty · Apr 28, 2020

Federal Police investigate hoax targeting users of COVIDSafe coronavirus app

The Australian Federal Police are investigating allegations of a hoax targeting the Government's new coronavirus app.

The allegations concern images of an apparently fraudulent message, shared on social media, that told the recipient the COVIDSafe app had alerted the Government they are more than 20km from their home, and were required to phone the Government.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said anyone found to be part of a hoax would be punished.

"Any misuse of telecommunications for a hoax is illegal," Mr Hunt said.

"Anybody who is found responsible will be charged with a significant criminal offence."

He said people who choose to spread misinformation should be fearful of the consequences.

"Whoever it is, they should be afraid of the law, because they are conducting a hoax which is about a very serious public health matter," he said.
Click to expand...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-28/fake-text-warning-for-coronavirus-app/12193048

A statement from a Department of Health spokesperson said the app did not have the capabilities the hoax reports.

"The COVIDSafe App does not have any geolocation capability, it does not track your location, only the proximity of your phone to other people’s phones that have downloaded the app, and cannot monitor a person’s location at any time," the spokesperson said.

"The app does not register a person’s home address and it does not share or send any information with anyone, until authorised by the user, if they have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and then only to state and territory health officials involved in contact tracing."
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 28, 2020

Special Report: Cyber-intel firms pitch governments on spy tools to trace coronavirus
April 28, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...-spy-tools-to-trace-coronavirus-idUSKCN22A2G1

When law enforcement agencies want to gather evidence locked inside an iPhone, they often turn to hacking software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite. By manually plugging the software into a suspect’s phone, police can break in and determine where the person has gone and whom he or she has met.

Now, as governments fight the spread of COVID-19, Cellebrite is pitching the same capability to help authorities learn who a coronavirus sufferer may have infected. When someone tests positive, authorities can siphon up the patient’s location data and contacts, making it easy to “quarantine the right people,” according to a Cellebrite email pitch to the Delhi police force this month.
This would usually be done with consent, the email said.

“We do not need the phone passcode to collect the data,” the salesman wrote to a senior officer in an April 22 email reviewed by Reuters.
Click to expand...

Yet some technologists remain skeptical that spying tools reliant on phone location data can be used to effectively combat a virus.
“This public health crisis needs a public health solution - not the interjection of for-profit surveillance companies looking to exploit this crisis,” said Edin Omanovic, advocacy director for the UK-based civil liberties group Privacy International.
Click to expand...

Krusty · Apr 28, 2020

Will the Government's coronavirus app COVIDSafe keep your data secure? Here's what the experts say

[...]
The Government hasn't yet released the app's source code and new legislation governing its use has yet to be shared. But that hasn't stopped researchers from digging into both the technical and legal implications of this unprecedented bit of software.

We're sure to find out more in the coming days, but let's take a look at what we know about the app for now, and where any issues may arise.
Click to expand...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science...ing-app-coronavirus-privacy-security/12186044

[...]
But it's also sharing your phone make and model?
Software engineer Robert Merkel has taken a look at the app. (You can dig into some more analysis by Dr Merkel and colleagues here.)

In the Bluetooth messages that are sent to other phones, he found COVIDSafe also shares the phone's make and model.

This information about phone model appears to be sent unencrypted over Bluetooth, which means it could be intercepted and create a certain level of privacy risk if someone was determined to track you (for most people and in most contexts, he said, this is not a huge risk).

"The protocol transfers your phone make and model 'in the clear' to everyone," he said. "It doesn't have to be the official COVIDSafe app to receive it."
Click to expand...

[...]
Is it safe to have Bluetooth on all the time?
Nothing digital is 100 per cent secure, and neither is Bluetooth.

This technology opens a channel for two devices to communicate — your phone and a wireless headset, or now, two phones with the COVIDSafe app.

But this communication can also allow vulnerabilities to creep in.

Often these issues are fixed in software updates, so before using COVIDSafe and turning on Bluetooth, Dr Merkel advised people to make sure their phones are using the latest operating system.

In general, the likelihood of Bluetooth attacks being used against random individuals is low, he suggested, but everyone who downloads the app will have to decide that risk for themselves.
Click to expand...

guest · Apr 29, 2020

Desperate To Identify People Staying At Home, Biometric Industry Holds "Festival Of Identity Webinar"
April 28, 2020
https://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2020/04/desperate-to-identify-people-staying-at.html

I am constantly surprised by how far biometric corporations will go to exploit COVID-19. But nothing and I mean nothing could have prepared me for what I read this past Friday.

Planet Biometrics reported that Science Media Partners is planning to hold the world's largest "home" identity webinar from May 4th -May 12th.

'Science Media Partners has announced plans for a groundbreaking online event entitled the Festival of Identity, noting it will be a new, positive, and exciting webinar platform that will serve the whole identity community during these difficult times."
Calling the largest home identity webinar in the world a festival, is a misnomer at best.
When biometric companies show unrestrained joy for finding new ways to identify people staying at home, everyone should take notice.
Click to expand...

What is the reason Science Media Partners is holding the world's largest home identity webinar during a pandemic? It is to help governments and private corporations identify people staying at home, of course.

COVID-19 has changed the way governments and corporations can identify and monitor people.
Governments are worried that police can no longer rely on CCTV cameras, license plate readers and contact-tracing to identify people.

"If only some company could solve this privacy dilemma and find a way for governments and corporations to monitor people at home, then we could all feel a sigh of relief", I sarcastically said to myself.
Six days from now, the world's largest home identification webinar called "The Festival of Identity" will begin to do just that.
Click to expand...

Minimalist · Apr 29, 2020

EFF: Google, Apple’s Contact-Tracing System Open to Cyberattacks

Malicious actors could potentially harvest data over the air and use it to shake confidence in the public-health system, EFF says.
Click to expand...

https://threatpost.com/google-apple-contact-tracing-system-cyberattacks/

hawki · Apr 29, 2020

"Most Americans are not willing or able to use an app tracking coronavirus infections...

Nearly 3 in 5 Americans say they are either unable or unwilling to use the infection-alert system under development by Google and Apple, suggesting a steep climb to win enough adoption of the technology to make it effective against the coronavirus pandemic, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll finds..."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...s-thats-problem-big-techs-plan-slow-pandemic/

Krusty · Apr 30, 2020

A 'pandemic drone' and other technology could help limit the spread of coronavirus and ease restrictions sooner, but at what cost?

If you don't feel comfortable signing up to the Government's COVIDSafe tracking app, then you probably won't be happy to hear about the pandemic drone.

Software being developed at the University of South Australia in conjunction with Canadian drone manufacturer Draganfly could see drones used to monitor the health of people, including spotting sneezes and tracking whether they have a fever.

It is just one way technology could be used to track and slow the spread of a virus like COVID-19.

But experts warn that new surveillance technologies must include privacy safeguards before they are adopted.
Click to expand...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05...could-beat-coronavirus-but-at-a-cost/12201552

[...]Professor Chahl does acknowledge the technology could also be used to watch and target individuals if a future user wanted to.

"All such technologies carry a risk with them," he said.

"I might think it's a very bad idea to use drones to chase people around who might be sick. But perhaps others might have different ideas.

pulled out last week over privacy concerns.
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

COVID-19 Could Provide Cover for Surveillance Expansion

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

Krusty Registered Member

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

Krusty Registered Member

Log in or Sign up

COVID-19 Could Provide Cover for Surveillance Expansion

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

hawki Registered Member

guest Guest

guest Guest

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

Krusty Registered Member

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

Krusty Registered Member

guest Guest

Minimalist Registered Member

hawki Registered Member

Krusty Registered Member

Useful Searches