Anybody installing DC Covid Alert Notice (DC CAN) today?

[Anonymous]

Apparently DC will start pushing the notifications to our phones today? Is anybody planning on installing it? Has anybody seen the code and can verify that it is actually not collecting anything as DC claims. I'd love to see that independently verified.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coronavirus-dc-maryland-virginia/2020/10/19/888dd498-1200-11eb-ad6f-36c93e6e94fb_story.html

Residents with a smartphone will receive a push notification beginning Tuesday asking them to opt in to voluntary exposure notifications, D.C. Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt said. iPhone users will be able to opt in through their phone’s settings, while Android users will be prompted to download an app.

The service creates private, random Bluetooth “keys” for each phone user and shares that data with other DC CAN users nearby, Nesbitt said, including strangers encountered in a park or restaurant. Residents who test positive for the coronavirus will be given a code by D.C. health officials to enter into the service, which will notify everyone who received that individual’s Bluetooth key during the previous 14 days.

Nesbitt emphasized that the technology does not track location and said people who test positive for the coronavirus are not identified to other users, or to Apple or Google.

She said that DC CAN works with tracing tools in other states that use the same platform but noted that Maryland doesn’t have such an exposure notification tool and Virginia has a state-specific app that is not compatible with D.C.’s system.

“This tool will only be useful if we have widespread participation,” Nesbitt said. “So we need as many people to opt in.”

[jsteele]

On the iPhone this is not a separate app, but built into the operating system. You enable it via the Settings app. The code was developed by Apple and Google and the security reviews I have seen have been supportive. I enabled it and am having everyone in my family do so.

[Anonymous]

Very technical question:
I had installed the Virginia one even though I live in DC, because there was no DC one, and when I do occasionally leave the house, it's often to Virginia.
My question is: does installing the DC app, which switches notification from the VA app to the DC app, wipe out any notification I could get in a week from an exposure last weekend?

[Anonymous]

Double poster.
How can Nesbitt say we need widespread participation, and not coordinate with MD and VA? We are not New Zealand, we are not an island.

[Anonymous]

I think this is cool. Glad they are trying it.

[Anonymous]

https://coronavirus.dc.gov/dccan


STEP 1
Let's get started:
For Android devices, you can find the app on Google Play. Android users will also receive a notification from the Play Store.
For iPhones, opt-in to Exposure Notifications in your device settings.

STEP 2
Once you opt-in to the notification system, the Exposure Notifications System will generate a random ID for your device. To help ensure these random IDs can’t be used to identify you or your location, they change every 10-20 minutes.

STEP 3
Your phone and the phones around you will work in the background to exchange these privacy-preserving random IDs via Bluetooth. You do not need to have the app open for this process to take place.

STEP 4
Your phone periodically checks all the random IDs associated with positive COVID-19 cases against its own list.

STEP 5
If there’s a match, you will receive a COVID-19 exposure notification, with further instructions from DC Health on how to keep you and the people around you safe.

Google and Apple swear to us that this time they will take privacy seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://coronavirus.dc.gov/dccan


STEP 1
Let's get started:
For Android devices, you can find the app on Google Play. Android users will also receive a notification from the Play Store.
For iPhones, opt-in to Exposure Notifications in your device settings.

STEP 2
Once you opt-in to the notification system, the Exposure Notifications System will generate a random ID for your device. To help ensure these random IDs can’t be used to identify you or your location, they change every 10-20 minutes.

STEP 3
Your phone and the phones around you will work in the background to exchange these privacy-preserving random IDs via Bluetooth. You do not need to have the app open for this process to take place.

STEP 4
Your phone periodically checks all the random IDs associated with positive COVID-19 cases against its own list.

STEP 5
If there’s a match, you will receive a COVID-19 exposure notification, with further instructions from DC Health on how to keep you and the people around you safe.

Google and Apple swear to us that this time they will take privacy seriously.

I really don't care if they don't.

[Anonymous]

Hard pass on this.

[Anonymous]

How about Bowser spends money on testing teachers and students instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hard pass on this.

I understand the emotion, but what is your educated reason for passing on this.

I would have thought that we could have distributed this in April and it would have been super useful, but I cannot come up with a solid reason why it would not still be useful today.

[Anonymous]

Installed. I'd appreciate knowing if I was in contact with someone.

And, if for some reason I do catch it I'd like to be able to give a heads up to anyone I was around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Installed. I'd appreciate knowing if I was in contact with someone.

And, if for some reason I do catch it I'd like to be able to give a heads up to anyone I was around.

Oh look, a citizen!
How in the flip are we not all boiling down our complicated feelings and thoughts to this very basic bottom line?

[Anonymous]

I just went to do it and the "Help DC" link on google's page sent me to the app store...but there's no app for DC yet.

Confused...

[Anonymous]

I'm still not going anywhere where this would be useful. If I pass someone hiking or on a walk around the neighborhood wearing a mask, then I don't really need to know they were infected because the chance of me getting it was almost nil. If I start working in the office or going out to eat, then sure. But until then, no way am I letting the gov't keep tabs on my whereabouts. Especially because they can link this info to basically everything you do on your phone. They don't like your social media presence because you repost antifa stuff? well then, they'll be sure to nab you at the next protest. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm still not going anywhere where this would be useful. If I pass someone hiking or on a walk around the neighborhood wearing a mask, then I don't really need to know they were infected because the chance of me getting it was almost nil. If I start working in the office or going out to eat, then sure. But until then, no way am I letting the gov't keep tabs on my whereabouts. Especially because they can link this info to basically everything you do on your phone. They don't like your social media presence because you repost antifa stuff? well then, they'll be sure to nab you at the next protest. No thanks.

Do you carry your phone around with you? Then it's already tracking your whereabouts.