Corona Virus

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Guinness

Hmm…if you are concerned about being tracked on your phone I suggest you stop using your internet connected computer/phone/tablet to post on this or any other website (unless you are savvy enough to use a VPN), even If you are using two wires and a lemon to power it.

You can get a basic smartphone for as little as £7.50 a month from Tesco or buy one outright for £80 and pay as you go with a 99p sim card from Range at Whitebirk. It’s irrelevant if you have it switched on or not, if you have the app the information is there when you do switch it on.

Like I said last post, read the apps privacy policy, it’s GDPR compliant, your data is secure…to access my details you need to input my birthdate, my email address, my 13 digit password and you need my phone (which needs my fingerprint). You need to do this manually every time. It doesn’t store cookies or password on Google or your password manager like your Accyweb, Amazon, Ebay, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Sainsburys, Tesco, Asda etc etc etc accounts.

If you really believe that this is an insidious attempt by the government using a pandemic to somehow bring a form of ID through the back door you need to give your head a wobble, this is about convenience.

Can you guys give me an alternative, cheap way of evidencing that you have been innoculated?

Yes, I am tracked when using my computer....or my activity is tracked, but with a phone My location and everywhere I go carrying it is tracked too.
Do I want that...?
As to the cost of a smart phone....I have no desire to get a smartphone as there is nothing I would do with it...like my current mobile phone...it would lurk in the bottom of my bag dead as a dodo.
As to how I would prove my Covid status....why should that be of interest to you or anyone else.
If you have been vaccinated then YOU are protected....and anyone who has not been vaccinated poses no threat to you.
Isn’t that what vaccinations do?
Protect you against getting this infection.
Whether this app is safe or not does not concern me because it will not go on an non internet phone and I have no intention of getting another phone.
Yes, it is very much about getting in ID by the back door and under the guise of convenience.
Make something seem attractive to the population and they will swallow it.
No...my head wobbles on its own thank you very much.
As for all those hoops you have to jump through to access the privacy of this app....well can’t see Taddy going for that...or many others of this older generation...and I bet any money somewhere along the line this big organisation will have their security breached and some unfortunate folk will have their information on the dark web...for sale.

[Margaret Pilkington]

10% of the population do not have a smartphone...many of these fall into the category of ‘the elderly’.
Those who do have a smartphone may find that the app is incompatible with their phone due to the age of the phone....the older folk do not tend to upgrade their phones as readily as younger people...they tend to stick to what they know.

To download the NHS app you need to be able to prove who you are...a passport or a photo driving licence needed...a bus pass doesn’t cut it.
Many of those who fall into the ‘elderly’ category will have neither of these.(I have not had a passport for over 15 years and I gave up driving 19 years ago). I have no intention of going anywhere that a passport might take me.
Then come the process of logging in if you have the app.
A thirteen digit password is asking a lot from those who may have problems with a simple password for their Sainsburys app(though many of these elderly will not have that app either)
If you asked my husband what his e-mail address is...he would look at you blankly and direct your query to me....as fo4 a thirteen digit password...he would have no chance with that one.
Taddy has the right idea...if you need to show your vaccine status, the. Use the card that you were given....though as I say...you being fully coveredshould not need to worry about who is not vaccinated.

[Guinness]

Taddy, I get that you are a self confessed Luddite…..I got the same card signed in the first instance by a volunteer fireman at Blackburn Cathedral in January and only signed at my request by a volunteer at Cannon Street in April….its easily duplicated by anyone with a semi-decent printer and the signatures are uncheckable and meaningless.

I’m really not going with the old people will struggle argument, since technically I’m one.

As for remembering passwords and other information…I’m afraid that’s the sign of the times, ring your doctor they need to know your birthdate and address, ring your bank they need to know your password, your account number, the last transaction you made etc..etc..etc..

You guys are actually proving my point, the reason you see adverts for stuff you are interested in or have bought is because Google or whatever search engine you use is ‘tracking’ you. It’s tracking sites you visit, things you buy and offering adverts tailored for you. You get none of this from the NHS app that you are so concerned about. How many of you automatically log in to this site using your browsers password manager?

Yep I’m vaccinated, and I still do two LFT tests a week, because I want this virus under as much control as possible….and yep it bothers me that some choose not to vaccinate. As with all virus, not everyone who has it gets symptoms or gets ill, but they can still unknowingly transfer it to people who are not as lucky.

In my view and looking at the reams and reams of facts…… the more people that don’t vaccinate the more chance of the virus mutating and making my vaccine useless and putting me and mine at risk. I’ve watched two people slip away because of this damn virus and have no desire to see another.

So again I ask, considering using the app is less invasive than posting here, buying something from Amazon, Argos or Sainsburys, and its more secure than Accyweb…

whats the issue with using the app

[Margaret Pilkington]

The issue with the app is that not everyone has a compatible phone...or wants a compatible phone (however cheap this might be)...I fit into the elderly category too....and I do not want a phone at all.
As for your justification of security....not all of us shop online.
My husband goes into the bank to deal with any financial issues...he needs only a four digit pin and sometimes he forgets that...but has no other signs of dementia (these PIN numbers are not important to him....and he has someone who will remember them for him...ME.....and you are going to tell me that this is a security risk too)

Getting this app requires phot ID....we do not all have current passports or photo driving licences....some of us have given up driving.
We have no plans to leave the country.....and if you are vaccinated then you have done what you can to protect yourself...so coming into contact with someone who is not vaccinated is no risk to you...unless you do not feel that the vaccine offers protection.
As for being tracked on here or on any sites that we use on the computer, it is different to having all your health records on a mobile device.....because I know nothing of the hackability of phones....are you totally sure that someone cannot access this information....well of course you are otherwise you would not have it...would you?
But because I am a cynical baggage I do not want that for me.

[monkey hanger]

[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1254143]

Getting this app requires phot ID....we do not all have current passports or photo driving licences....some of us have given up driving.

on a slightly different topic but one to do with ID. this is not anything new where ID is required for almost anything for no reason i can think of. its about 25 years ago now that my stepson who had a 5 grand cheque to deposit without a bank account in his name. he could not open an account at any bank because of not having any ID they required. no household bills in his name, only a provisional driving licence or passport. had to go to coventry eventually to find a bank at some obscure{then** far eastern bank.

[monkey hanger]

[QUOTE=Guinness;1254142]

Yep I’m vaccinated, and I still do two LFT tests a week, because I want this virus under as much control as possible….and yep it bothers me that some choose not to vaccinate. As with all virus, not everyone who has it gets symptoms or gets ill, but they can still unknowingly transfer it to people who are not as lucky.

better not go to any tropical countries then where far worse ailments are readily available.

[ferret man]

Roll on June 16th

[monkey hanger]

Originally Posted by ferret man

Roll on June 16th

yes, as long as the scare mongers do not get there first. heard words like it might be too early being spoken already. well if these types do not fancy it just stay in your houses with your muzzle on and let others try to live again.

[shillelagh]

i got my 2nd jab on tuesday .. at least im sorted now .. but the doc who did it told me i would be 95% covered in a weeks time .. i thought it was 3 weeks before you covered .. anyway saw this outside the castle pub on whalley road

[Exile on Spencer St]

These ‘unpleasant times’ we are living through have many aspects.
One of them was that, when the Govt set up the private Lighthouse labs (with it’s business friends) to do PCR tests, it banned the Public Health labs from doing the same.
Later, it appears that false positive PCR test results were having such an impact on staffing levels, requiring healthy staff to stay away from work, that the NHS started doing its own testing.
But, still, the Govt is promoting private businesses ahead of public.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57243205

These comments stood out to me.

“...she later learned that the UK government advises that only private providers can be used for PCR tests for travel.“

He added: "If you haven't paid for a test then assume it's not valid."

Follow the money.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Exile on Spencer St

These ‘unpleasant times’ we are living through have many aspects.
One of them was that, when the Govt set up the private Lighthouse labs (with it’s business friends) to do PCR tests, it banned the Public Health labs from doing the same.
Later, it appears that false positive PCR test results were having such an impact on staffing levels, requiring healthy staff to stay away from work, that the NHS started doing its own testing.
But, still, the Govt is promoting private businesses ahead of public.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57243205

These comments stood out to me.

“...she later learned that the UK government advises that only private providers can be used for PCR tests for travel.“

He added: "If you haven't paid for a test then assume it's not valid."

Follow the money.

Now isn’t that a surprise....NOT!

[cashman]

Originally Posted by monkey hanger

yes, as long as the scare mongers do not get there first. heard words like it might be too early being spoken already. well if these types do not fancy it just stay in your houses with your muzzle on and let others try to live again.

to modernise a scaremonger in my book is a village idiot.

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by Exile on Spencer St

These ‘unpleasant times’ we are living through have many aspects.
One of them was that, when the Govt set up the private Lighthouse labs (with it’s business friends) to do PCR tests, it banned the Public Health labs from doing the same.
Later, it appears that false positive PCR test results were having such an impact on staffing levels, requiring healthy staff to stay away from work, that the NHS started doing its own testing.
But, still, the Govt is promoting private businesses ahead of public.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57243205

These comments stood out to me.

“...she later learned that the UK government advises that only private providers can be used for PCR tests for travel.“

He added: "If you haven't paid for a test then assume it's not valid."

Follow the money.

It's not as simple as 'Follow the money'....

I get free PCR tests every week because of my job, let's assume that you do not. Is it fair that I get to travel without having to pay for a test whilst you do not?

What about people using the free testing service pretending to have symptoms simply to get around having to pay for a test?

[monkey hanger]

[QUOTE=Guinness;

What about people using the free testing service pretending to have symptoms simply to get around having to pay for a test?[/QUOTE]

you have hit on something there. if anything is free then many will take advantage of it just for that reason. possibly this has caused the present NHS failures nowadays. too many timewasters. cannot see my parents or grandparents having this attitude.

[Exile on Spencer St]

Originally Posted by Guinness

I get free PCR tests every week because of my job, let's assume that you do not. Is it fair that I get to travel without having to pay for a test whilst you do not?

No I don’t get a ‘free’ PCR test but isn’t your argument merely accepting another step on the road to privatised medicine?
Wouldn’t another option have been to give everyone a ‘free’ test.

Not that there is such a thing as a ‘free’ service, we taxpayers (and those to come for several decades) are paying for it all.