California's Exposure Notification System Rolling Out on iPhone Thursday

[MacRumors]

Apple and Google's Exposure Notification system has been rolling out to many states and countries across the world, and starting this Thursday, California, the most populous state in the U.S., will get access to Exposure Notifications.

California COVID Notify has been in testing at UC Berkeley and other UC campuses since earlier this year, but on Thursday, Exposure Notifications are set to roll out to all iPhone and Android users across the state.

CA Notify takes advantage of the Exposure Notification Express system that Apple implemented in September with the release of iOS 13.7. Californians with an iPhone can go to the Settings app, tap on Exposure Notifications, select the United States, and then choose California to opt in with no need to download an accompanying app. On Android, users need to download an app that's launching on December 10.

The Exposure Notification system for California was developed by UC San Diego Health, which will provide infrastructure, education, and support that includes a call center and public website.

As with all Exposure Notification apps, California's implementation requires users to opt in to the program and no one will be signed up without consent. When activated, the app uses Bluetooth to interact with the smartphones of the people you come into contact with, monitoring who you're near.

If one of those people is later diagnosed with COVID-19 and shares that diagnosis through the Exposure Notification system, you'll receive an alert letting you know about possible exposure so you can follow the next steps as directed by California's health department.

As TechCrunch points out, Californians will receive a notification when they're within six feet of a confirmed COVID positive individual for a period of 15 minutes or more. Apple and Google's Exposure Notification system was designed with privacy in mind. GPS data and personal identifiers are not collected, and only anonymous keys are transmitted and shared with others.

Your privacy is protected. The California COVID Notify Privacy Policy is available at https://covid19.ca.gov/notify/#privacy. Your GPS location data and personal identifiers are never collected or shared with other users. Your phone shares anonymous keys (randomly generated strings of numbers) with other users via Bluetooth. The only data collected by the app are the anonymous keys, Bluetooth signal strength, date, and duration of proximity. This information is not linked to your identity or location.

On iPhone, enabling Exposure Notifications in California requires iOS 13.7 or later, and the program will be active starting on December 10.

At this point, many states have implemented Exposure Notifications, including Virginia, North Dakota, Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington, Connecticut, Nevada, and the District of Columbia.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: California's Exposure Notification System Rolling Out on iPhone Thursday

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

California out here California-ing again...

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

We now have evidence of just how slow and non-agile Apple is. Vaccines can be developed, tested, and distributed faster than Apple can shove halfbaked software out to a platform they fully control.

 

[crawfish963]

We now have evidence of just how slow and non-agile Apple is. Vaccines can be developed, tested, and distributed faster than Apple can shove halfbaked software out to a platform they fully control.

You're blaming the wrong entity. It's up to each state/nation to develop protocols and eventually code to utilize tracking. Apple provides APIs, the state/nation does the rest.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

We now have evidence of just how slow and non-agile Apple is. Vaccines can be developed, tested, and distributed faster than Apple can shove halfbaked software out to a platform they fully control.

What?

 

[Marbles1]

Question for Californians / Americans - why did it take so long for California, home of the world's tech industry, to bring out a covid app? (and I thought the UK was late to the party when ours came out a few months back)>

 

[ScottishDuck]

We now have evidence of just how slow and non-agile Apple is. Vaccines can be developed, tested, and distributed faster than Apple can shove halfbaked software out to a platform they fully control.

Which would make sense if apple developed this software... which they didn’t.

Apple and Google developed the exposure notification system, which has been available for a long time.

 

[nutmac]

While the rollout has been painfully slow, better late than never.

I can't see a single reason NOT to use Exposure Notifications. Getting more information will encourage me to take more precaution when going outside.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Fresh off of banning abilities to conduct business all across the state, and after California has forced citizens into house arrest, now they want to also track your location and human interactions.

 

[DocMultimedia]

We now have evidence of just how slow and non-agile Apple is. Vaccines can be developed, tested, and distributed faster than Apple can shove halfbaked software out to a platform they fully control.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Apple. Google/Apple released the framework that anyone can use very early on. It's up to individual states/countries to make an app (and they can download a vanilla one when they wish). Virginia came out with their app very early. The depressing part is that no one bothers to install the app.

 

[CarlJ]

We now have evidence of just how slow and non-agile Apple is. Vaccines can be developed, tested, and distributed faster than Apple can shove halfbaked software out to a platform they fully control.

Apple’s part of this was done and rolled out and working, many months ago. It’s all been on the countries and states to implement a front end that suits their purposes (mostly a matter of how they want to present the information, and there are other implementations to crib from, plus set up a back-end database, which is fairly cookie-cutter, plus go through their own government red tape).

 

[PlainEnvelopes]

Hard Pass.

 

[m.x]

We now have evidence of just how slow and non-agile Apple is. Vaccines can be developed, tested, and distributed faster than Apple can shove halfbaked software out to a platform they fully control.

Excuse me, but this is simply not true.

April 10th:
Apple and Google today announced a joint effort that will see them using Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus around the world.
Source: Macrumors

August 5th:
Virginia this week became the first U.S. state to release a COVID-19 exposure notification app using Apple's and Google's jointly developed API, as noted by Kyle Carmitchel on Twitter. The app is available now on the App Store.
Source: Macrumors

Apple did the part they could do. The rest is up to local politicians and regulations.

 

[CarlJ]

Fresh off of banning abilities to conduct business all across the state, and after California has forced citizens into house arrest, now they want to also track your location and human interactions.

GO READ THE ****ING SPEC. The software cannot track your location or who you interact with because it has been specifically designed to make that impossible.

You are spreading harmful misinformation. This will get people killed, and you are playing a part in that. STOP NOW.

 

[calstanford]

Pathetic beyond belief how long this has taken.

 

[Maclver]

Sad this thread is flagged for the political section of MR..

 

[nutmac]

Hard Pass.

Can I ask why?

• The way information is gathered is completely anonymized (just the industry standard randomized Bluetooth Low Energy ID that changes every 15 minutes that cannot be traced back to you in any way).
• If you have Bluetooth enabled anyway, which is true for most people, no impact on the battery life.
• Getting more information can help you take more precaution. When enabled, iPhone will notify Californians if they were within 6 feet for 15 minutes or longer with someone who tested positive/or would test positive for COVID-19 in 14 days window. All you will know is the date you came in contact with someone.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

GO READ THE ****ING SPEC. The software cannot track your location or who you interact with because it has been specifically designed to make that impossible.

You are spreading harmful misinformation. This will get people killed, and you are playing a part in that. STOP NOW.

No, I think I'll just not download tracking software, and not contribute to the elevation of the "surveillance for safety" approach.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I wonder if it would be easier to track who hasn't been infected.

 

[patrickbarnes]

Too many “misinformed” (to put it charitably) comments here.

This is a different, new thing (“Exposure Notifications Express”) that doesn’t require a separate app.

The full history is in this thread:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1336014440697774080

 

[iGeneo]

No, I think I'll just not download tracking software, and not contribute to the elevation of the "surveillance for safety" approach.

Thank you for being part of the problem

 

[Bazooka-joe]

The NHS app in the UK with notifications enabled chews up battery life. Hopefully your Californian app will be less power hungry

 

[racer1441]

Turn it off. Bull crap garbage. I’ll snap my IPhone in half before I give Any more info to these pieces of worthless garbage in our government here in CA. I’ll sign up right now to take my chances and those of my family.

 

[nutmac]

No, I think I'll just not download tracking software.

But it doesn't track you in any way. No location, nothing. Just randomized Bluetooth device ID that changes every 15 minutes and is stored only for 2 weeks. This information is not transmitted to the local government at all.

Only when you log a positive test case, which requires manual entry (and is verified against local government's verification server) their Bluetooth IDs are shared with those that came in contact (via key server).

If you are never tested positive or never logs a result (I sure hope not), you are not being tracked in anyway.

 

[WiseAJ]

Washington State enabled it last week now this leaves Oregon as the lone holdout for the 3 Pacific Coastal States.

Come on Oregon, get it together!