Posted on 05/21/2020 3:11:30 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
Apple in iOS 13.5 is introducing an exposure notification API designed to allow apps created by public health authorities worldwide to notify people who come into contact with someone who has COVID-19 about their exposure to the virus.
Apple's Exposure Notification feature is privacy focused and shares no personally identifiable information or location data with the public health authorities creating the apps, but some users may want to opt out of the feature, which is enabled by default when upgrading to iOS 13.5.
Apple in the iOS 13.5 update added a toggle to disable COVID-19 Exposure Notifications for those who do not want to participate and do not want to be notified should they come into contact with someone who has COVID-19. Here's how to get to it:
Open the Settings app.
Scroll down and tap on Privacy.
Tap on Health.
Tap on COVID-19 Exposure Notifications.
Tap the toggle to turn the feature off.
The purpose of the exposure notification system is to limit the spread of COVID-19 as much as possible by informing people who have been exposed so they can self-isolate and get recommendations from their local health authorities. Because it works by allowing two smartphones to interface with one another using random identifier beacons and Bluetooth, it works best when most people have it turned on.
Re-enabling Exposure Notifications can be done by following the steps above and tapping the toggle to turn the feature back on. If the toggle is green, it's on, and if the toggle is gray, it's off.
iOS 13.5 is available in a beta capacity at the current time, and there won't be apps that take advantage of Exposure Notifications until the update is released. Receiving Exposure Notifications also requires downloading an app from a public health organization that uses the API and agreeing to its terms and conditions. Simply having the toggle turned on won't do anything without the app.
I agree.
I called my nephew a few hours ago. As I set the phone down, I noticed a map with a red flag on. his address about 250 miles north of me....with his home address clearly noted.
Cross-Platform App CommunicationApple and Google have both worked to create APIs for exposure notifications that work together so iPhone and Android smartphones can interface with one another and you'll receive notifications if exposure happens even if the person you've been in contact with has an Android smartphone.
Exposure Notification Opt-In
In the iOS 13.5 Exposure Notification is a privacy setting that is off by default, and using the feature requires users to download an app and consent to sign up for the exposure notification system.
If you do, at some point, get COVID-19, there's a separate consent process for anonymously alerting people that you've been in contact with. The app needs express consent to inform others of the diagnosis, and nothing happens automatically.
In other words, it is opt in at the users choice at every level, and also anonymously, using on-device generated cryptographic keys, that are only connected on the cloud. Permissions are also the user’s choice. It is OFF by default, and the API only becomes active when the user downloads an App, activates it voluntarily, that detects nearby persons with a similar App and exchanges keys. None of these data are shared with either Apple or Google.
The progressive Leftists are talking about injecting mandatory chips into every person on Earth as the ultimate answer to tracking. That’s most likely the endgame we are looking at.
I don’t go out much lately but when I do I leave my phone home.
Not completely yet. But that is the goal. The endgame. Big Brother WANTS to watch you, 24/7 and in intimate detail.
bookmark
Sorry, kiddies, but this 20 year IT tech is here to tell you that technology did not set mankind free, because our wisdom to use it in that way is far outpaced by the technology that's at hand to be abused.
Which apps were those on the Apple App Store? I just did a search for any such app malware on Apple and NOTHING came up since November 2019. Yeah, there was malware found in Google’s Play store, but what are you blithering about in the Apple Store that was pulled due to Apps having malware hiding in them. The 17 apps found back in November , and yes, some of them were long time existing apps, were related to in-App links being CHANGED after the fact to a malware site with a malicious script which then triggered an “ad-clicker” which swiftly visited multiple sites, logging multiple visits to generate revenue for the publisher. They’d gotten around the vetting by making the change after they’d been approved for inclusion in the App Store. The majority of these apps were published in non-American Apple App stores. That publisher was banned for life from ever placing an App on Apple again.
I went through several Apple sites and found nothing being reported. I’ve gone through five pages of Duck,Duck, Go pages of an “iOS malware” search and found nothing for anything since that discovery. Prior to that, there was one in 2018, and then a few in 2016, and then the Chinese Xcode Ghost malware in China which were done by jailbreaking iPhones and side loading App stores using Business App installation methods using direct loading via business iPhone management control methods.
So what are you blithering about in the last week?
Yes, someone could collect and analyze it. But what are they getting? Not much. In actual fact, it might be a good thing for them to get more data about people’s exposure and actual contracture of this disease in real time. . . So long as the data is at arms length and completely anonymized, an ultimate blind study.
That’s what this data generates at the cloud level.
It’s anonymized at the individual device level with a cryptographic key so the owner can reconnect to the data to learn if one of the other cryptographically anonymized persons with which he has had close contact has reported developing COVID19. That’s an active connection to learn that fact, not a passive notification. That’s at both devices that inter-communicate. That data is then individually sent to the cloud.
The only data that could be tracked would be generic, statistical anonymous data, unconnected to any particular person. The purpose is for individuals to make decisions on their own to self-isolate based on accurate data of actual exposure.
If you have his address in your contacts, then Apple Maps knows where his house is. It shows in the address book.
That’s one solution, but what year model is your car? Most newer cars are fitted with GPS and tracking modules, now. WIFI too.
Hmmm...that’s what he guessed. Thanks.
This is why I don’t regularly carry my devices. Just when I think I am going to need them. I am not the type to feel like I need to be glued to a phone 24/7.
We have two android phones but I have to keep location services on due to mileage apps for hub’s biz and my rental properties. ARGH. I guess I could track it manually but seriously, with me having two full time jobs and hub’s loathing of paperwork...
Thanks.
Want to bet it doesn't become mandatory? The Cloud is lousy with all sorts of back-doors and taps, ISP's and otherwise, government requested and sanctioned.
When the CHI-COMs at Billy Gates and Soros's command release the next engineered bio-weapon, watch the hammer fall....
I hear ya. Yes, a burner phone is a good idea. Mine is old enough to not update, so as long as it lasts I’ll be okay. You can keep the phone and get a burner too. That’s what I would do. Only because you may need it. You can have it off, or turn location services off. But the flip side is you are paying for the phone if not using it. It’s a double edge sword. I remember resisting back in the day of carrying a phone at all!
I just updated my phone this week and the Covid tracker is there, but defaulted to OFF. Compared to most tech companies, Apple is protective of their customer’s privacy which is why I only use IPhone. You can’t pay me enough to use a Google Android device.
These iOS 13.5 settings only appear in the iPhone — no sign of them so far in iPadOS 23.5
13.5, that is
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