just because I'm Paranoid ...

[GrahamB]

Because I used to work in a job which required me to think the unthinkable;

Download the app so the Government is happy and,
turn off my Bluetooth so it never picks up a signal from an "infected" persons phone.

Knowing NHS management as I used to do (Full praise for the frontline staff mind), I'll lay money that they either haven't thought of this or believe people won't do it.

[Mr Sprue]

Paranoia Rules!

In short:
When it detects another phone with the app in range, The App on your phone logs (on your phone) the user ID from the app on the other phone and a timestamp.
No 'Location' data is stored.

This is automatically deleted from you phone after a period (not certain - seen 42 days and 56 days specified)
IF you report having symptoms, AND flag that in the app, a message is pushed to the app on other users phones advising them to isolate / seek testing.

So what happens then if like me you have Google timeline turned on then?  I'm able to view my stats back to 2016 and view everywhere I have been!

[Skyline2uk]

Ohhh this is gonna be interesting.

Philosophy and big brother watch vs the need to get out of lockdown.

To lay my cards on the table:

Nothing "opt in" on my iPhone is turned on. I drive my wife nuts by leaving locations services off until I need the navigation app.

Bluetooth is normally on, especially these days when using Bluetooth headphones whilst working.

I firmly believe Facebook, Google, Apple etc all play fast and loose with data but use them all anyway. I don't make life easy for them, but at the end of the day I have nothing to hide so if they want to see months and months of N gauge / Railway related searches and posts so be it.

Besides, GCHQ have technology we can't even conceive of. I would be amazed if "they" couldn't record any phone conversation they fancied.

That all being said, based on what I have read about the NHS App being proposed / tested:

It needs Bluetooth on.
It doesn't need GPS.
It works be anon "handshaking" between Bluetooth enabled, App installed phones who come close enough to each other.
Users who develop symptoms fill in a questionnaire on the app.
An "amber" alert then goes to all users who "handshook" with the phone in question within a certain time.
This alert goes "red" when the infection is confirmed.

As it stands I am probably going to get it and use it.

I hope guidelines are well established with employers for example, as it is quite conceivable an employee will be "amber" alerted multiple times and therefore have to take action. For me, so long as that employee is allowed to keep working from home (until they get ill), shouldn't be a problem.

Skyline2uk   

[Newportnobby]

Mobile signal where I live is just crap so why would I buy a smart phone when I can't even use the basic jobbie I have anyway? I use a mobile to phone and text - period, end of.
One happy Luddite

[Skyline2uk]

Mobile signal where I live is just crap so why would I buy a smart phone when I can't even use the basic jobbie I have anyway? I use a mobile to phone and text - period, end of.
One happy Luddite

By some reports non-smart phone users could be offered a tag....you ever been tagged Nobby? 

Skyline2uk

[Papyrus]

I use my wife's cast-off 5-year-old smartphone on the cheapest tariff I can find. My data limit is very small by today's standards, location services is always off, and bluetooth is off most of the time because it gobbles battery power. I suspect a lot of tech-averse people leave bluetooth off too, mainly because they don't know how to switch it on.

I suspect the success of this app is likely to be patchy at best.

Cheers,

Chris

[Newportnobby]

Mobile signal where I live is just crap so why would I buy a smart phone when I can't even use the basic jobbie I have anyway? I use a mobile to phone and text - period, end of.
One happy Luddite

By some reports non-smart phone users could be offered a tag....you ever been tagged Nobby? 

Skyline2uk

As a cereal offender (I keep biting Shreddies) - yes. I've frequently been tagged

[Skyline2uk]

 

Stay well mate

Skyline2uk

[tutenkhamunsleeping]

I keep biting Shreddies

Not while they're still being worn, I hope?

[Newportnobby]

I keep biting Shreddies

Not while they're still being worn, I hope?

If I was that bendy.......................maybe best if I say no more

[stevewalker]

Besides, GCHQ have technology we can't even conceive of. I would be amazed if "they" couldn't record any phone conversation they fancied.

There was a (probably apocryphal) story some years ago of someone in a Usenet group saying that he'd come up with a new and interesting encryption algorithm and someone from GCHQ in the group being interested in it. When asking for an email address to send it to, the response was supposedly, "Send it anywhere, we'll see it eventually."

Back to the contact app though. I would have thought that recording the time and location would have been useful. If I were to receive an alert that I had been close to someone who had now been diagnosed with COVID-19, I'd have no idea of where or when and would have to isolate (including from my family - in particular my vulnerable wife) for a fortnight, but if I knew the location, I might be able to determine that it was when I was sat waiting inside my car and that that there was no risk of me having caught it then.

[PLD]

So what happens then if like me you have Google timeline turned on then?  I'm able to view my stats back to 2016 and view everywhere I have been!

That's YOUR CHOICE to have timeline turned on and it's Google storing it with your permission... It has absolutely no relevance to future use of the NHS app...

[Railwaygun]

As a starter, you could join the Kings College App ( 3m users and counting) to help
Them
Plot the current state of the virus .

Help slow the spread of #COVID19 and identify at risk cases sooner by self-reporting your symptoms daily, even if you feel well  🙏. Download the app

https://covid.joinzoe.com/

If you report symptoms, you get an invite for testing ( and some users get invited even if well to sample the possible
Infections pre- symptoms.

[Railwaygun]

king's achievements so far

https://covid.joinzoe.com/blog

[Dorsetmike]

Mobile signal where I live is just crap so why would I buy a smart phone when I can't even use the basic jobbie I have anyway? I use a mobile to phone and text - period, end of.
One happy Luddite

Sorry Mick you'm only a pseudo Luddite, us real Luddites don't have any mobile phone, pad or tablet, use a land line to phone, no text, no fartbook, nor twatter! I will admit  to 2 PCs and a Laptop, all running Win7 pro 64bit with updates turned off.