COVID-19 Stuff Here

[Slim 293]

anyone else descending into full blown alcoholism due to having nothing else to do?

I would like to think I'm becoming a classier drunk............

I've been, er, supporting many of the local breweries and bottle shops a little more than usual...........

And I'm suddenly well stocked in Four Pillars gins, a few different kinds of vermouths, Campari, various citrus fruits and sugar syrup, so happy hour is running daily at our house.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12325702

WO,

Is this just a couple of jokers angry at Ardern and the level four lockdowns or is there a wider segment of NZers frustrated?

Further to my earlier reply, an opinion poll I missed put approval of the Gov's handling of C-19 at 84%, apparently the average across the G7 nations is around 55%.

Level 3 implementation may be delayed as there are concerns over the ANZAC Day holiday on Monday 27th & people ignoring the remaining travel & activity restrictions. Would also allow time to sort out the grey areas that are coming to light as people try to figure out what you can & can't do, where you can & can't do them, etc.

 

[Ignoto]

What am I missing?

What you're missing is are two big things; what information is being captured and who is able to see it. In theory, this sounds like a fabulous idea, but when it comes to information security, you need to think that, it's not a matter of if this data gets hacked/leaked/accessed but when.

Putting that aside, lets work through the issue. The Government mandates we install this app on our phone. When do we take it off our phone? Is it when COVID is all over, if so, when it that? Is that 18 months down the line if a vaccine is available. If so, the Government now has 18 months worth of data on you, which tells them every single person your interacted with. Remember, the app doesn't care how long you interacted with the person for, just that you came in contact with that person.

Now, we've seen this particular Government put in place similar laws regarding metadata capture and who can access it. We were originally told it was to protect our country from extremists. Sounds good everyone thought; now here's a list of all the agencies who thought they should have access to our metadata without a warrant; https://www.zdnet.com/article/61-ag...ss-to-australian-telecommunications-metadata/

You may say "oh thats 2015, none of them have the ability to access it now".

Under the mandatory data retention legislation passed in 2015, the number of agencies allowed to access the data was narrowed down to just 21. But the telecommunications industry organisation Communications Alliance has revealed that at least 87 other state and federal organisations – including city councils, the RSPCA and the South Australian fisheries department – have accessed the data under section 280 of the Telecommunications Act.

Data held by the Australian Communications and Media Authority shows the power was used 8,432 times in the 2018-19 financial year, but the Acma does not record for what purpose the data was sought.

- From Feb 28 2020 https://www.theguardian.com/technol...er-disregard-for-unauthorised-metadata-access
Queensland has shown that idiotic cops abuse this power and one officer was taken to court because he looked up a friends ex-wifes details and told him where he could find her and this was for a DV case.

So, with all that said and done. We have a Government who is forever encroaching on our digital lives, broadening what information they capture on us and who can access it. Can we really trust these people not to abuse this information where history has shown us that they will? Can we trust them when they tell us it will be secure? When there are countless times where personal information has been leaked from Government servers.

Most importantly, can you realistically take anything Dutton and Co say with a grain of salt regarding safeguarding us. After all, they want backdoors installed on our phones but they (Politicians) still use encrypted messaging services to circumvent Australian laws regarding record keeping.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Presumably some or all of the above would equally apply to this mooted alternative to an app:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121093089/government-considering-covid-card-for-contact-tracing

 

[Aurelius]

Leaving aside the political and philosophical side of the new tracker app - can we honestly say, hand to God, that apps automatically make our lives easier and/or function as advertised?

I'm looking at you, MyGov.

 

[Pfitzy]

Dutton is, and always will be, a classic QLD copper i.e. corrupt as fuck, power hungry, racist, fluffybunny.

He and his entire portfolio - the largest last time I looked - has stood by and said nothing while Ruby Princess was shuffled around without a care in the world. I found this article from Illawarra Mercury illuminating, but hardly surprising:

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/6723038/can-the-cover-up-be-worse-than-the-crime/

TL;DR - Ship forced to dock in Port Kembla, Aspen Medical - a donor to the LNP who report to Border Force - given access while NSW Health were stood back (maybe of their own will). Sus as fuck.


Operation Sovereign Borders was a total fucking con job - ONLY certain boats arriving ONLY on certain parts of the coastline ONLY if people found out about them. Everything else swept under the carpet. Famously, Kim Carr pressed an ABF staffer on arrivals:

http://www.blotreport.com/2018/07/16/telling-lies-not-stopping-boats/

Kim Carr: Peter Dutton has stated we haven’t had a successful boat arrival in now over 1100 days. Did a boat arrive on Sabo Island on the 20thAugust?
ABF: Yes.
Carr: And did it involve six Chinese nationals?
ABF: Yes.
KC: And was there a New Guinean people smuggler involved?
ABF: There was a New Guinean on board, yes.
KC: Why is that not arrival in Australia?
ABF: It’s not an arrival under the scope of Operation Sovereign Borders.
KC: Oh, I see. So, I want to be clear. Just so we understand what 1,000 days means, it doesn’t mean Chinese, it doesn’t mean east coast?
ABF: We get illegal arrivals all the time and have for years, as you know. The reason Operation Sovereign Borders was set up was not to deal with Papua New Guinea. As I articulated, it was to do with people arriving on the high seas, primarily out of Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Sometimes when a boat arrives, it actually doesn’t. It depends on where it comes from.

 

[Pfitzy]

Oh and now The OberPotato is shouting for China to be investigated as yet another smokescreen for the Libs. The LNP is muttering about de-funding WHO - a paltry $50M a year - while they don't want to take pay cuts for sitting on their arses for the next 4 months.

Fucking hell what a bunch of entitled clowns. We'd get to the logical conclusion a lot quicker if we stormed parliament house and ransacked the fucking place with pitchforks and torches.

I'm not for a second saying Labor would be better. People say we've got the politicians we deserve, but really, what other choice do we have when "The System" is designed to create vote-winning nematodes with the personality of a dial tone?

 

[Pfitzy]

And yes, I sidetracked into politics. Mea culpa.

For a correction: we're sitting on < 50 new cases per day for the last week BUT hearing rumblings out of Victoria. Tasmania obviously has a whole world of six-fingered fuckery about to come down, so don't expect things to improve like they did the last 2 weeks.

 

[Ignoto]

Peak Dutton to me is highlighted at the end of January he said:

“The reality is people need to be accommodated for somewhere for up to 14 days. I can't clear out a hospital in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane,” Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra.

“Christmas Island is purpose-built for exactly this scenario.”

Then a month later he flies back into Australia with COVID and goes home in Brisbane

The Beetoota series on Dutton was fantastic though.

 

[Pfitzy]

Peak Dutton to me is highlighted at the end of January he said:



Then a month later he flies back into Australia with COVID and goes home in Brisbane

The Beetoota series on Dutton was fantastic though.

IS fantastic - don't think they're done yet

Funny how the citizens flown into Christmas Island weren't Caucasian cruise ship passengers, innit?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^ this is gold:

QUIZ: On A Scale Of 1 To Peter Dutton – How Much Of A Dumb [fluffybunny] Are You?

https://www.betootaadvocate.com/breaking-news/dutton-quiz/

 

[tragic]

So according to the government this app simply records the name and mobile number of anyone else with the app who has been within 1.5m for 15mins. If a person tests positive, contact tracers can ring everyone on the list.
Let’s presume for a minute this is true and there is no other hidden functionality (which one would assume would be exposed pretty quickly)
If I’m not having illicit or confidential liaisons how could that data compromise me or my personal security?
I’m sure my name and mobile are already on a government data base having received political spam.

 

[Up the Guts]

So according to the government this app simply records the name and mobile number of anyone else with the app who has been within 1.5m for 15mins. If a person tests positive, contact tracers can ring everyone on the list.
Let’s presume for a minute this is true and there is no other hidden functionality (which one would assume would be exposed pretty quickly)
If I’m not having illicit or confidential liaisons how could that data compromise me or my personal security?
I’m sure my name and mobile are already on a government data base having received political spam.

It’s more that anyone some degree of a civil libertarian doesn’t trust the state not to extend those powers once they have them.

 

[tragic]

It’s more that anyone some degree of a civil libertarian doesn’t trust the state not to extend those powers once they have them.

But there’s no legislation or powers being invoked?
It’s just asking people to download an app.
And if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic you could just say no.
They’ve also said there no geolocation or tracking so it seems pretty benign to me.

 

[cyclopath]

But there’s no legislation or powers being invoked?
It’s just asking people to download an app.
And if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic you could just say no.
They’ve also said there no geolocation or tracking so it seems pretty benign to me.

What if one of the people with whom you "interacted", based on your phone's proximity, turns out to be busted for dealing drugs, and they decide to keep an extra special eye on all those contacts?

 

[tragic]

What if one of the people with whom you "interacted", based on your phone's proximity, turns out to be busted for dealing drugs, and they decide to keep an extra special eye on all those contacts?

So drug dealers, hookers, thieves and other miscreants (and their clients) might want to think twice.
That’s a pretty small proportion of the population.
What about those of us with pretty average boring lives? Do we have anything to worry about?
I just don’t see the issue for the majority of society.

 

[tragic]

I’m not actually advocating the app. Just looking for a legitimate reason why I shouldn’t download it that isn’t based on conspiracy theory or paranoia.

 

[Ignoto]

They’ve also said there no geolocation or tracking so it seems pretty benign to me.

They say that, but it's hard to trust that's actually true and if it is, doesn't it make it redundant? Surely you want to know where the interaction occurred and at what time so further tracing can be done.

I don't know enough about the proposed time or distance caps, but what happens if the bluetooth signal between the phones drops in and out. So the devices may only be 'close' to one another for 5 minutes, but in actual fact it was 15.

Its fully devils advocate here and this issue mainly stems from this particular Federal Government's constant failures to understand technology. Hell remember when we got told MyGov was DDOS'ed but the minister failed to understand what a DDOS attack is versus overwhelming demand? What about the Government wanting us to all have 'Internet Verified ID's so you can watch porn - https://www.zdnet.com/article/austr...ge-verification-for-porn-and-loot-box-access/

 

[Derpus]

So drug dealers, hookers, thieves and other miscreants (and their clients) might want to think twice.
That’s a pretty small proportion of the population.
What about those of us with pretty average boring lives? Do we have anything to worry about?
I just don’t see the issue for the majority of society.

This argument that 'it shouldnt matter if you arent doing anything wrong' only holds up if you assune the government wont abuse its powers. A wildly irrational assumption.

 

[cyclopath]

So drug dealers, hookers, thieves and other miscreants (and their clients) might want to think twice.
That’s a pretty small proportion of the population.
What about those of us with pretty average boring lives? Do we have anything to worry about?
I just don’t see the issue for the majority of society.

Well, one could extrapolate to many situations. I think we have more than enough surveillance upon our daily lives. It's naive to think it would be as innocuous as you state. I'm not convinced we need this. I won't be downloading it.