3 ms·

You make this seem as if it’s no big deal at all. If that is true why wasn’t the Canadian health agency open and transparent about it from the beginning? Perha

You make this seem as if it’s no big deal at all. If that is true why wasn’t the Canadian health agency open and transparent about it from the beginning? Perhaps people don’t want public health agencies tracking their movement? Perhaps the Canadian health agency knew people wouldn’t like it and decided not to disclose it publicly. An omission of fact is fundamentally equivalent to an outright lie. Which then begs the question of what else they aren’t disclosing. Why should people trust a lying public health agency?

akamaka 5y ago
This hasn’t been hidden at all. Here’s an announcement from a year ago about researchers in Canada using cellphone data: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/research-articles/mobility-and-proximity-in-canada-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/ https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/research-articles/mobility-an...
- parkingrift 5y ago
  Independent researchers is not the same as a government health agency. Presumably these independent researchers don’t also have your private health data. And again, if it’s not big deal why wasn’t the Canadian public health agency transparent about it from the beginning?
  - akamaka 5y ago
    Not sure why you are nitpicking. The point is that it’s no secret that this data is out there any available to anyone. Here’s an article about Toronto Public Health using cellphone data, also from a year ago. https://thelogic.co/news/ai-firm-bluedot-helping-toronto-public-health-measure-residents-movement-in-bid-to-track-covid-19-risks/ https://thelogic.co/news/ai-firm-bluedot-helping-toronto-pub...
sandworm101 5y ago
>> Perhaps people don’t want public health agencies tracking their movement? Sure, nobody wants the government to track their movements. But lots of people are perfectly happy with government doing practical contact tracing of covid patients. The only difference is wording. Personally, I very much want to know if I the guy sitting beside me on that flight/bus was carrying omicron. If that means a government agency occasionally looks though cellphone records, so be it. I actually trust my government to do such things. Unlike Americans, Canadians generally give their government much more credit in these areas. A Canadian generally trusts that such information isn't going to be handed over to police without good cause. And they know that the police have better things to be doing that tracking people for petty offences. And even if caught for some crime, Canadians aren't subject to the US prison industry. At each layer their is a greater level of trust in government. The net effect is that these stories don't really bother much of anyone.
- gentleman11 5y ago
  Contact tracing involves some degree of consent, but this is dragnet surveillance without your knowledge.
- parkingrift 5y ago
  That’s fine. Different people from different countries with different laws can have different opinions about surveillance. But that just further begs the question of why the Canadian public health agency wasn’t open and honest about it.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  > I very much want to know if I the guy sitting beside me on that flight/bus was carrying omicron. If that means a government agency occasionally looks though cellphone records, so be it. Put me down for definitely not wanting this. I'd rather have omicron.
  - sandworm101 5y ago
    Contact tracing isn't about you. If you were on that flight beside that guy then you now likely have it either way. Tracing is about allowing you to know that you have been exposed so that you can prevent yourself from spreading it to other people. It is about sacrificing some personal privacy in order to protect other people.

akamaka 5y ago

This hasn’t been hidden at all. Here’s an announcement from a year ago about researchers in Canada using cellphone data: https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/research-articles/mobility-and-proximity-in-canada-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/ https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/research-articles/mobility-an...

parkingrift 5y ago
Independent researchers is not the same as a government health agency. Presumably these independent researchers don’t also have your private health data. And again, if it’s not big deal why wasn’t the Canadian public health agency transparent about it from the beginning?
- akamaka 5y ago
  Not sure why you are nitpicking. The point is that it’s no secret that this data is out there any available to anyone. Here’s an article about Toronto Public Health using cellphone data, also from a year ago. https://thelogic.co/news/ai-firm-bluedot-helping-toronto-public-health-measure-residents-movement-in-bid-to-track-covid-19-risks/ https://thelogic.co/news/ai-firm-bluedot-helping-toronto-pub...

sandworm101 5y ago

>> Perhaps people don’t want public health agencies tracking their movement? Sure, nobody wants the government to track their movements. But lots of people are perfectly happy with government doing practical contact tracing of covid patients. The only difference is wording. Personally, I very much want to know if I the guy sitting beside me on that flight/bus was carrying omicron. If that means a government agency occasionally looks though cellphone records, so be it. I actually trust my government to do such things. Unlike Americans, Canadians generally give their government much more credit in these areas. A Canadian generally trusts that such information isn't going to be handed over to police without good cause. And they know that the police have better things to be doing that tracking people for petty offences. And even if caught for some crime, Canadians aren't subject to the US prison industry. At each layer their is a greater level of trust in government. The net effect is that these stories don't really bother much of anyone.

gentleman11 5y ago
Contact tracing involves some degree of consent, but this is dragnet surveillance without your knowledge.
parkingrift 5y ago
That’s fine. Different people from different countries with different laws can have different opinions about surveillance. But that just further begs the question of why the Canadian public health agency wasn’t open and honest about it.
pessimizer 5y ago
> I very much want to know if I the guy sitting beside me on that flight/bus was carrying omicron. If that means a government agency occasionally looks though cellphone records, so be it. Put me down for definitely not wanting this. I'd rather have omicron.
- sandworm101 5y ago
  Contact tracing isn't about you. If you were on that flight beside that guy then you now likely have it either way. Tracing is about allowing you to know that you have been exposed so that you can prevent yourself from spreading it to other people. It is about sacrificing some personal privacy in order to protect other people.