Hong Kong makes wearable trackers mandatory for new arrivals, checks in with ‘surprise calls’ too
- Reference: 1584592204
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/19/hong_kong_makes_wearable_trackers_mandatory_to_enforce_covid_19_quarantine/
- Source link:
As [1]explained today by government CIO Victor Lam, “the app will not capture directly the location, but only capture the changes in the location, especially the telecommunication and communication signals around the confinee to ensure that he (or she) is staying at home.”
An earlier [2]press release presaging the devices’ introduction said “The decision of technologies to be used in monitoring was made on a risk-based approach. During the quarantine period, various measures are used to ensure the compliance of quarantine order, including the sharing of real-time location via communications software (WhatsApp or WeChat) by those under quarantine.”
And here’s the fun part in the press release: “The staff at the communication centres set up by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer will check the location of people under quarantine from time to time and make surprise video calls to ensure that they are staying at their dwelling places.”
Which is a whole new spin on the role of a CIO!
But we digress.
The device is tamper-proof. Government advice is that “If the wristband is broken or the smartphone is disconnected or taken away from the dwelling place, an alert will be sent to the Department of Health and Police.”
The app appears to come from a Hong Kong outfit named [3]Compathnion that bills itself as “an award-winning team with a mission to deliver effective location based solutions to fulfill evolving business needs.”
The exact disposition of the wristband has not been revealed, but Lam’s video shows him wearing what looks like a Tyvek wristband with a loop that could conceivably conceal an RFID or other silicon. CNBC’s [4]report on the device shows something more robust and akin to the [5]MagicBand that Disney properties slap onto their visitors. CNBC also described an enrolment process that requires wearers to pace out the dimensions of their dwellings.
Hong Kong’s government says it has secured 60,000 of the wristbands, and has put in place severe fines for those that don’t wear them, leave their dwellings or try to game the system.
Hong Kong joins [6]Israel and China in the using-tech-to-track-Corona club, with several other currently considering the idea.
What a time to be alive. ®
[1] https://www.news.gov.hk/eng/2020/03/20200318/20200318_232832_530.html?type=ticker
[2] https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202003/16/P2020031600759.htm
[3] https://www.compathnion.com/
[4] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/hong-kong-uses-electronic-wristbands-to-enforce-coronavirus-quarantine.html
[5] https://www.disneyworld.eu/plan/my-disney-experience/bands-cards/
[6] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/03/18/digital_surveillance_covid_19_coronavirus/
I don't have a problem with this
Giving you a wristband makes it clear you are being tracked, and how, it is not being done in secret and isn't something they'd be able to continue once the emergency has passed since you'd have to keep wearing the wristband. Sure, they will have a record of your movements while you are there but you can opt out by not going there.
I am 100% against tracking people as a matter of course, and if this was done using facial recognition and cameras everywhere when it would be a lot worse - because that's something they could keep doing long after coronavirus is something we talk about "remember when". Now they probably are doing that ALSO, but if so it is proof that doesn't really work as well as its proponents claim or they wouldn't need you to wear the wristband.
Re: I don't have a problem with this
I can't argue with your reasoning. Only to note that in the UK there is a desire to track and "manage" from a persistent faction in the public sector policy / "thought leadership" space that is almost obsessional and which pre-dates coronavirus. If we go down this route, then how much be turned off afterwards, or more likely, how much will kick back in at progressively lower crisis thresholds in the future is moot.
Re: I don't have a problem with this
It doesn't even feel like tracking as such, it's a geofenced alarm to assure quarantine restrictions.
This will be very useful tracking all those visitors --- and Hong Kongers themselves --- who go deep-country into the Hong Kong Outback under the Big Sky.
"the app will not capture directly the location, but only capture the changes in the location"
Um. Doesn't that mean it knows where you are? As in:
1 (point of issue) + 2 (change) = 3 (new location)
Yes , the app will know where you are, but I think the HK government is honestly not interested in knowing that. Apparently, the app does not upload that information, it just keeps it internally to compare with the new location. I guess it squawks to the government when it has nailed a new location, telling that the location has changed but not giving away the new location.
At least, I hope that that's how it works.
Coming to a Tin Pot Dictatorship near you soon.
(If would-be-dictator Boris gets his way with two years' worth of Emergency Powers).
Re: Coming to a Tin Pot Dictatorship near you soon.
"(If would-be-dictator Boris gets his way with two years' worth of Emergency Powers)."
The measures we are under will be around for a long time.
I have only thought of four ways out of suppression, none good.
1) The population is suppressed, sorry, the virus is suppressed long enough for herd immunity to develop. Suppression down to levels with enough ICU beds would be necessary. Since there are maximum 10k ICU beds, that's maximum 200k new infections a week. (5% needing ICU seems to be rough figures.) That's 10m people a year, so four years for probably enough. There should be a vaccine for it before then.
2) The virus is suppressed to low enough levels for people to think that it's worked. If it infects at about 10k/week now, and R0 is 0.5 in lockdown, then in two months you are getting roughly 40 infections a week. You probably won't find them, so you wave the mission complete flag, lift restrictions, and the virus goes back to R0 of 2.5. Probably closer to 3 now because of all the partying people will do. Within 5 weeks we are back to 10k/week, lockdown again.
3) Vaccine developed, tested, distributed, checked to have worked. 12-18 months.
4) So many people have died that maintaining suppression takes a back seat. I would say 100k deaths is enough to convince people that lockdown hasn't worked.
What a time to be alive
Unintentionally pithy. Emphasis on "alive'.
Or haven't you noticed the death toll?
What if you don't have a smart phone? Do they issue you with one?