Government Covid-19 tracker

[eggsarascal]

What's this about?, on lphone it's settings>Privacy>health. Is it just me?

[Mick Dempsey]

Just had a look at mine, it’s as you say.

As I understand it it arrived in the updates, mines off as a default setting.

 

I think in Norway there was some fuss about it and it got taken off @Rich Rule posted something about it somewhere.

 

Conspiracy theorists will cry foul, but they can track you anyway if they want.

Edited June 21, 2020 by Mick Dempsey

[Bob_z_l]

This has been doing the rounds for weeks for Android users...

 

[Haironyourchest]

Tried it, it's true! My location is always turned off, unless I'm using Google maps as a satnav, so the tracking was "off" by default.

[eggsarascal]

2 minutes ago, Haironyourchest said:

Tried it, it's true! My location is always turned off, unless I'm using Google maps as a satnav, so the tracking was "off" by default.

Get off, it's true!, ya think I make these things up? My location is also turned off but I'd guess many people leave it on.

[Mark J]

2 hours ago, Haironyourchest said:

Tried it, it's true! My location is always turned off, unless I'm using Google maps as a satnav, so the tracking was "off" by default.

Your phone location is triangulated by its proximity to cell towers (amongst other things).
Whether you have your 'location' on or off, it is always on.
The API in the menu settings isn't a program as such, it just allows a program to integrate with the device.
An interested party can gain access to your phone without your knowledge. They may even be doing it already. It's a canny handy way to gather a large amount of data which could lead to informed decisions on controlling the spread of COVID-19.
The link below is an insight:

 

Reflections on Programming Systems

BOOKS.GOOGLE.CO.UK

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This book presents a historical and philosophical analysis of programming systems, intended as large computational...

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Mark J

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Mark J said:

Your phone location is triangulated by its proximity to cell towers (amongst other things).

amongst the other things: even a single tower tends to know which quadrant you are in and because the tower controls the strength of its communication with your cellphone it needs to know the approximate distance too. It then allocates the phone a timeslot out of 64 according to this distance which narrows it down further.