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More Than 7 In 10 Americans Won't Use Contact-Tracing Apps, Data Shows (arstechnica.com) 99

Posted by BeauHD from the it's-a-trust-thing dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Because of the lag between infection and the onset of symptoms, people can contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus and then pass it on, potentially to many others, before they know they're infected and have to isolate. So being able to identify and warn individuals who have been exposed to an infected person -- known as contact tracing -- is widely acknowledged to be a vital part of any effective strategy to beat COVID-19. Which is why it is extremely dismaying to see survey data that says fewer than 3 in 10 Americans intend to use contact-tracing apps to allow that to happen.

The data was gathered from an online survey of just over 2,000 people in the United States, collected on June 1 by polling company Opinion Matters on behalf of the security company Avira. When asked if they planned to download a contact-tracing app, an overwhelming majority -- 71 percent -- answered no. Not only is that bad, it appears to be a deterioration from earlier this year; in April, we covered a poll that found 1 in 2 Americans would probably or definitely not use a contact-tracing app. Most of the resistance to downloading a contact-tracing app came from people over the age of 55. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that people aged 55 and over account for almost 80 percent of US COVID-19 deaths to date. "The most common reason cited was a concern about privacy; in all, 44 percent of those who said 'no' to a contact-tracing app said they would not trust the technology to protect their digital privacy," the report adds. "But nearly as many (39 percent) also said they thought the apps created a false sense of security, and 37 percent said they believed the apps would not work to slow the spread of the pandemic. Thirty-five percent also indicated a lack of trust in the app providers."
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More Than 7 In 10 Americans Won't Use Contact-Tracing Apps, Data Shows More

More Than 7 In 10 Americans Won't Use Contact-Tracing Apps, Data Shows

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  • It's already been figured out how to make these apps safely and without the privacy risks. The fact that 70% won't use them goes to show that information isn't getting out there and that the gov't and app stores and doing enough to put people's fears at rest.

    These apps + masks could stop the virus dead in it's tracks. But thanks to greedy corporations we can't trust and a government complicit in that greed plus decades of anti-government propaganda used to discourage participation in Democracy ("The wor
    • You say that like democracy is a good thing.
      • Go learn Mandarin, renounce your U.S. citizenship, and go emigrate to China, then, if you hate it so much here. I'd say "be sure to tell us how that's working for you" but the CCP wouldn't allow you to anyway.

        • Re:Bad communication from gov't & app stores (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Impy the Impiuos Imp ( 442658 ) on Monday June 15, 2020 @08:26PM (#60187646) Journal

          This country is great because it's free, not because it's a democracy.

          Democracy is the handmaiden* of freedom, not its master*.

          * Still working on replacement euphemisms for these two.

          • This country is great because it's free

            Citation needed.

            • Middle school civics. The American Revolution was about liberty, not democracy. They were going to make Washington a KING, except he said no.

              • The American Revolution was about a bunch of former British aristocrats who wanted to own slaves and not pay taxes. The "liberty" part was just hype to get the yokels (the MAGA of their time) to get on board. The Constitution then went on to create a new aristocracy of slave-owning tax cheats.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
          • No, fuck you. Anyone who was born and raised here who shits all over it clearly is taking it for granted and should be treated to first-hand knowledge of what it's like in some of the worst human- and civil-rights shitholes on this planet, like China and North Korea, for instance.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by I75BJC ( 4590021 )
      Are you saying that One should install this app on One's own smartphone?

      My body; My choice!

      Also:
      "These apps + masks could stop the virus dead in it's track" is a belief system. It's your belief system. Does everyone have to agree with your belief systems?
      Plus, does Science agree with you?

      ""The worse words are I'm from the gov't and I'm (sic) hear to help" were not spoken in the context of a Pandemic or even an Epidemic. You have pulled those words out of their context (Governments' over regulatio
      • That your friend needs medical supplies from the Government might indicate the Government screwed the medical system.
        I'm a diabetic, LADA, and I get all of my diabetic supplies from the US Government at no charge. I also get my hearing aids, batteries and periodic hearing tests from the government at no charge. That's because my diabetes has been ruled to be caused by indirect exposure to Agent Orange when my ship was in Tonkin Gulf in '72, and both my hearing loss and tinnitus came outbound fire of the

    • Bullshit, I'm a software developer.

      Stop trusting people, don't be a maroon.

      I wear a mask when I go out. I didn't go out during phase 1 except for necessary shopping. I did my laundry in the bathtub. I didn't hoard TP, in fact I haven't bought any since before the lockdown. I make my own sanitizer. As soon as I have access to a vaccine, I'll take it.

      But I'm not going to install some app. Fuck that. They can app it up their app with their app.

      • I ended up buying a case of 96 wrapped rolls and you know what? I think I'm going to do it that way in the future by default. Won't have to buy it more often than twice a year at the rate I use it, instead of buying it every other week.
      • > But I'm not going to install some app. Fuck that. They can app it up their app with their app.

        Not sure what app you are karr-karring but my CovidSafe App is whirring along just fine.
        Maybe you can understand the difference between a tracking app and a contact app.
        My app is the latter.

        Even seems the src is out - go find it! Like it is that hard..
        https://github.com/AU-COVIDSaf... [github.com]

        • Unless you can run your own server and use an API to report your data, you don't have any idea what it does or does not do.

          Duh. I'm a software developer. I would have considered that in the first instance.

          For your sake, I hope you're not a developer.

    • It's already been figured out how to make these apps safely and without the privacy risks.

      It's been proven even more strongly that we can't trust Big Tech or our own government, which is why 7/10 people would refuse to use this. Good luck trying to force it on people, too, by the way.

      These apps + masks could stop the virus dead in it's tracks.

      That's a bunch of phoney baloney nonsense.

      AGAIN: It's been demonstrated over and over again that we can't trust Big Tech, Big Data, or our own government when it comes to things like this. Even if you have the sourcecode for the app, the chops to vet it yourself, and compile and install it yourself, there's bound

      • > AGAIN: It's been demonstrated over and over again that we can't trust Big Tech, Big Data, or our own government

        Got a Facebook account?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shmlco ( 594907 )

        I'm an iOS developer and I've looked at the protocols and I'll tell you that the system is secure and was in fact designed with privacy in mind. But if you're so paranoid about privacy and being tracked then why the hell are you typing your nonsense on a computer on a public website?

        Don't think your phone or tablet or computer isn't ALREADY being tracked and logged by every app and website? Have you never heard of cell phone tower tracking and triangulation? How about GPS?

        The parent is correct. If everyone

  • will allow themselves to be permanently tracked and traced by those in power.

    Just my 2 cents ;(

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 )
      Just about 100% of them will also carry a cell phone, which by design is tracking their every move anyway.

      • But who has access, and when are logs created?

        Don't underestimate the danger of additional tracking. Few people have access to the raw cell phone data.

    • Well, you see, "they aren't doing anything wrong so they have nothing to hide", LOL.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        They have their own business to carry one with. How this for a scenario, boss - I hate that fucker, employee - no worries I will covid 19 the sucker, contact trace the idiot off the streets, over and over and over again.

        Seriously, contact tracing, immediately implies, any corporation that controls it can order you off the fucking streets at any time, it chooses for days at a time. What the fuck.

        I mean to say, corporations issuing orders to citizens the citizens are forced to obey, drop your pants and bend

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by shmlco ( 594907 )

          By "order you off the street" you mean that they you a text message indicating you may have been in contact with someone with COVID and suggesting that you get tested?

          That kind of "order you off the street at any time"?

          Wow. A text message. How draconian can you get???

          • There are scenarios, as unlikely as they are for the moment, where 'public health officials' could put out orders that people who are suspected of being infected could be literally scooped up and forcibly quarrantined, or at least placed under house arrest. It's not happened here, but do you now know of the news stories from some other countries where people were literally pulled over on the road and arrested because of orders put out by their government? Could conceivably happen here.

  • that we all need to worry about.

  • Exactly (Score:3)

    by Toonol ( 1057698 ) on Monday June 15, 2020 @07:36PM (#60187476)
    "44 percent of those who said 'no' to a contact-tracing app said they would not trust the technology to protect their digital privacy," the report adds. "But nearly as many (39 percent) also said they thought the apps created a false sense of security, and 37 percent said they believed the apps would not work to slow the spread of the pandemic. Thirty-five percent also indicated a lack of trust in the app providers"

     Can you choose all of the above?

    • I'm willing to bet all of them carry a smartphone, meaning their poll responses indicate more of a knee-jerk reaction than reasoned thought. If they had a deep concern of being tracked, and knew where the capacity to do that came from - the first thing they'd do is dump the phone. A corona app wouldn't even be on their radar.

      Having it perceived as "government tracking" probably doesn't help the popular opinion either. Even a lot of left-wing pontificators have been shining light on that angle. Never mind th

    • Re:Exactly (Score:4, Informative)

      by jeti ( 105266 ) on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @02:17AM (#60188372)
      In Germany, we're now using an app that is open source and minimizes data collection:
      https://github.com/corona-warn... [github.com]

  • "Dismaying" that People Won't Use Them? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Arzaboa ( 2804779 ) on Monday June 15, 2020 @07:50PM (#60187522)

    I wouldn't touch these things with a ten foot pole. I grew up in a country who declared war on its citizens via its "War on Drugs." Phone calls were tapped. Emails read. Banks will report you if you continue to deposit cash. IRS will be all over you if they suspect you're up to something. The forfeiture programs in this country give you about zero recourse if they take your stuff, accidentally or not. This is still going on today. There are currently protests today about the effects of this system.

    There is always some law enforcement agency tasked with enforcing some new set of laws, or some new edict from the newly formed government every four years. I have no idea how the data and this program will be used in the future. Until I can trust that every movement I make and every letter I type won't be used against me in an investigation I won't ever feel comfortable with this sort of thing.

    I'd love to know what sort of idealistic world these folks must live in to think this would be OK with anyone.

    --
    "Trust, but verify." - Ronald Reagan

    • Re:"Dismaying" that People Won't Use Them? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by joe_frisch ( 1366229 ) on Monday June 15, 2020 @08:41PM (#60187686)

      What I don't follow though is how the app changes anything,.

      Apple and Google have the technological capability to track you now and hand all that data to the government. The only think that stops them is there adherence to a promise (and threat of lawsuits) not to do so. I don't see how having an additional app that they promises won't track you changes that. If you don't trust them, you are already screwed.

      I'm not making any claims one way or the other on whether the *can* be trusted, just that if you own one of their phones you are already trusting them.

      • Except I have altered the software in my phone to provide the OS spoofed GPS coordinates, and I doubt that Apple has accounted for this and is still tracking me in some way.

        It seems to fool all the apps and even Apple's find my iPhone.

        Sure through carrier cell signal my approximate location can be determined but I am OK with that level of accuracy.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by shmlco ( 594907 )

          "Except I have altered the software in my phone to provide the OS spoofed GPS coordinates...."

          Wow. You have a developer account. Ummm... you realize, of course, that GPS "tracking" usually starts with the coordinates of known WiFi services and doesn't bother with actual GPS triangulation.

          • I don't have a developer account.

            I have rooted the device and modified the core system files.

            All location services including GPS, WiFi, and Cellular location get spoofed via my custom indirection layer.

    • Yes, this. I also live in the USA. I 100% believe that test-and-trace is the best way, perhaps the only way, to stop COVID. Unfortunately I also do not trust the government not to abuse the contact tracing ability once the pandemic is over. To paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke, "Handing power to the government is like handing whiskey and car keys to a teenaged boy."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by shmlco ( 594907 )

        It's an app that stores data on your device and ONLY on your device and--if you get infected and if you tell it to do so--will send that data out so people you've been in contact with can get tested and avoid infecting others.

        As there's no centralized tracking store the abuse vectors are, let's see... zero, carry the zero, ummm... zero.

  • False Positive:
    How would the app know if the infected person is on the other side of a wall from me? For example, I was in Starbucks, they were in FedEx. We never met. Not to mention that GPS and BT are not the most accurate technologies on our phones.

    False Negative:
    Non-app using person is infectious and I get it from them. The app has no knowledge that there was a contact.
    If I were to get infected from a contaminated handrail, then the app wouldn't be alerting for that.

    Privacy:
    The Google/Apple solution

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DavenH ( 1065780 )
      To your first question: signal processing. Walls distort bluetooth reflections in predictable ways. Also interstitial object detection is possible by analysing the acoustics of the room, i.e. deconvolving and figuring out distance to walls.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dgatwood ( 11270 )

      False Positive: How would the app know if the infected person is on the other side of a wall from me? For example, I was in Starbucks, they were in FedEx. We never met. Not to mention that GPS and BT are not the most accurate technologies on our phones.

      Yes, that's a false positive, but it's also a false positive that's easily filtered out by asking the sick person where he/she went, then asking the other person where he/she went, and realizing that there's a wall in between. And assuming they only report situations where the two people stay in close proximity for a period of time, that's unlikely to be a common occurrence.

      False Negative: Non-app using person is infectious and I get it from them. The app has no knowledge that there was a contact. If I were to get infected from a contaminated handrail, then the app wouldn't be alerting for that.

      The person who was sick also might not be using the app in question (whatever app it might be), in which case you'd have no idea that

    • Read this to find out why: https://www.schneier.com/blog/... [schneier.com]

      • And then think about it some. The premise of Mr Schneier's article presupposes that the application is a total replacement for human contact tracing and provides a diagnosis to the user. When you set up a strawman it is easily knocked over, and that he proceeded to do.

        These apps, if well designed and used, can provide an additional source of potential contacts for the intelligent human beings doing contact tracing. The contact tracers will certainly will get application-reported contacts that do not res

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rapjr ( 732628 )
          Schneier's point is that the apps can't tell a person if they are safe, and they can't tell a person with certainty if they are exposed. So while the data from the app might seem to be of some use to a contact tracer, people won't actually use it because it only causes them worry without actually providing useful information. Even if a contact tracer uses the data to call a person to get more details the person called may be unlikely to remember in detail what they were doing a week or two weeks ago. But

  • While this doesn't directly relate to contact tracing, it does relate to the whole covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, those who die in a hospital after staying for a month sustain complete disruption of the lung architecture. Professor Mauro Giacca of King’s College London had this to say of his studies [theguardian.com]:

    “What you find in the lungs of people who have stayed with the disease for more than a month before dying is something completely different from normal pneumonia, influenza or the Sars virus,” he said. “You see massive thrombosis. There is a complete disruption of the lung architecture – in some lights you can’t even distinguish that it used to be a lung.

    “There are large numbers of very big fused cells which are virus positive with as many as 10, 15 nuclei,” he said. “I am convinced this explains the unique pathology of Covid-19. This is not a disease caused by a virus which kills cells, which had profound implications for therapy.”

    So yeah. Keep those cases rising Florida, Alabama, Arizona and a few others.

  • pick and choose (Score:5, Insightful)

    by World Virus ( 6087416 ) on Monday June 15, 2020 @08:19PM (#60187606)
    And in other news, More Than 7 In 10 Americans have the facebook app on their phone because "they trust the technology to protect their digital privacy,"

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fintux ( 798480 )
      This should just be made an additional feature in Facebook and most people wouldn't give it even a thought. It already does some sort of contact tracing by suggesting adding people as friends if I've been for example in the same party with them (in the time before corona...).

  • The app is one step in the Incrementalism (Score:3)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Monday June 15, 2020 @08:29PM (#60187652)

    By the time the virus is gone the government will be piggy backing on the app for some other purpose that you have to use. Remember, the SSN was only for social security.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      By the time the virus is gone the government will be piggy backing on the app for some other purpose that you have to use. Remember, the SSN was only for social security.

      Now it's used as an excuse for the IRS to rape you up the asshole.

  • I activated the contact tracing feature that was added to the Citizen app, mostly out of curiosity. I'm already being privacy-raped by having a smartphone, this is just one more drop in the ocean.
  • Anyone who trusts the US government after the war on (some) drugs and the war on terror, political correctness, racism (both real and overhyped), the intentional destruction of peoples' businesses and careers, NSA spying, fraud in the FBI, and on and on needs their head examined. That's why people don't trust these apps. They've been screwed over too many times in the past, particularly over the last twenty years.

  • There are plenty of people using phones that just don't support the current apps.

  • 70% of people have had sense enough to not surrender their privacy to the corporate nation for a minor, and not even likely to be delivered, promise of safety.

  • Why is this surprising ? (Score:3)

    by nehumanuscrede ( 624750 ) on Monday June 15, 2020 @10:53PM (#60187982)

    It boils down to trust.

    In simple terms, 70% of Americans do not trust their government and / or the tech industry when given a choice.
    Even IF the software does exactly as they claim and nothing else, the trust just isn't there based on their past history.

    That's the problem with trust.

    It takes a lifetime to build it up and only moments to burn it to the ground.

  • Where's the I don't want to create data that can be subpoenaed and used to blame me for getting someone sick reason not to use one of these apps?

    Contact tracers aren't allowed to ask if you were at the BLM protests recently [thecity.nyc]. So contact tracing isn't being taken seriously even by the people doing it. So why should anyone else take it seriously?

  • You would have to be a fool to use this. Your creating data about a person in a government database. This database is subject to all government limitations and weaknesses.

    With a warrant or subpoena someone will find out quite a bit about you. They could be a divorce attorney, crazy person, rogue District Attorney of a political party you disagree with. Depending on where they file a friendly judge might be much more open to granting requests than elsewhere. Remember all of the patent cases that used to be f

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shmlco ( 594907 )

      It's an app that stores data on your device and ONLY on your device and--if you get infected and tell it to do so--will send that data out so people you may have been in contact with can get tested and avoid infecting others.

      There is no "government database", so your entire screed went off the rails from the second sentence on...

      • I think you missed the entire point of my 'screed'. A significant portion of the population no longer trusts the government or big technology companies - especially with regards to medical mattes. In the last few months the public at large has witnessed government agencies, in conjunction with once trusted medical institutions, tell us that we need to shut down the entire economy or everybody dies. Models run by government agencies working with academics in universities have all predicted doom for humanity

  • How does one trust a smartphone to protect their digital privacy in the first place? It is a cost-benefit question.

    many people don't own smartphone - myself included. I do have a cell phone, but it can't run such an app. I do have a tablet which I use to provide the other features a smartphone would provide, but it is not with me 24/7 (or anywhere near that:) - while it could run such an app the results would be almost useless. Of course, that also means Google had little idea where I've been.

    How can anyone

  • how come in the west in early stages there were zero reportings and warnings of hotspot bars and such ?

    In thailand there were specified boxing matches and bar outbreaks that were published and everyone who wanted who had been there was tested.

    something like 700 cases were linked to a single boxing match cluster in the end.

    it's also now been several days without a new found covid case inside the country if you don't count returnees in quarantine (who are tested twice before release). 20% of returnees from ku

  • 44 percent of those who said 'no' to a contact-tracing app said they would not trust the technology to protect their digital privacy,"

    And that concern is *very* well-founded, given the extremely long list of "coincidences", "accidents", negligences, and outright intentional violations of privacy that have come to light. I will probably never use a contact-tracing app out of such concerns, but if I ever did it would only be on condition of the following:

    • * It has a mode of operation that does not require GPS.
    • * Someone would have to explain why it's impossible for privacy to be leaked by one's bluetooth hardware address being readable eve

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shmlco ( 594907 )

      It's an app that stores data on your device and ONLY on your device and--if you get infected and tell it to do so--will send that data out so people you've been in contact with can get tested and avoid infecting others.

      The mode of operation, by the way, is Bluetooth proximity, not GPS. Phone A has to be close to phone B for enough time for transmission to have taken place. If so an encrypted token is stored on each phone and is part of the data sent when, again, you choose to do so.

      Support for the capabilit

      • It's an app that stores data on your device and ONLY on your device and--if you get infected and tell it to do so--will send that data out so people you've been in contact with can get tested and avoid infecting others.

        I understand the theory. What I want is a trusted way to verify that surreptitious transmissions are not taking place (that's why I invoke an entity like EFF as an intermediary), and why I don't want GPS involved at all (because having it on will prevent seeing its notification icon from clarifying that some other process may be opportunistically listening given that it's on).

        The mode of operation, by the way, is Bluetooth proximity, not GPS.

        That is mostly what I've heard as well. What I'd need is a detailed explanation of how having my bluetooth hardware address on and

  • wow, there's actually hope for humanity. Privacy is typically valued less than a $0.10 off coupon.
  • The folks I know who've tried the contract tracing apps in Canada were forced to uninstall them in only a few hours because of the horrific battery drain.
  • Why should we let the government track us? They have quite a poor record when it comes to our civil rights. Maybe we should start tracking our government officials and see what they are doing when we're not looking.

  • I haven't seen anything about how they are planning on Tracking and Tracing. There are really three main ways I can see it being done.
    1) They can centrally log where everyone is and then run database queries on the back end.... I won't touch that and often have my GPS turned off so it's unlikely to help even if I do use it.

    2) Have every unit transmit it's identification code and then when someone is caught they have a list of contacts they can use to trace down.... Might use this but this requires everyone

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