Sunday, March 22, 2020

What if you could always know how close you were to the Covid 19?


Let us say, for shits and giggles, you could wear a watch (Fitbit, Apple watch, whatever) and it could tell you:

  1. How close you were to someone with the virus
  2. If you had the virus
But it also would let the government know if you had the virus and were breaking curfew / isolation. 

Would you wear it?

Do you think the government should force everyone to wear them for safety?

What about when the crisis is over? 
What if the government asked you to keep wearing it, in case of a relapse? 

They could still check on you at any time to be sure you're not carrying the virus. Of course they could also tell:
  1. If you've been to the doctor
  2. If you've been to a Cannibus store
  3. If you attended a rally for a specific candidate
  4. If you've attended a protest
  5. If you've been speeding*
  6. If you cheated on your spouse
  7. If you left your child alone for more than 5 minutes

This isn't sci-fi, we are probably only about 6 months from this, if our governments really wanted to do it. We have the technology to see if you have a fever, if they add some capability to read vitals (like they can already do with diabetes and blood sugar) then this is perfectly possible once they sequence the virus.

And China already does the non-medical items with universal facial recognition.

Of course, then the government could track everyone, where they were at all times and they have supercomputers /AI large enough to track all this data now. 

Tracking is done know all the time with your smartphone and your car. At what point does "public safety" override privacy concerns?

The answer right now, might be different from the answer one gives when we aren't all quarantined.

*Most cars and all rental cars can already do this. If you're ever in a dispute with your rental car company and they want to be dicks, they can download all that information.

1 comment:

  1. I wouldn't wear the watch but I would use a smart thermometer sold by Kinsa Health that can record fevers in real time, which Kinsa is already using to track the virus among folks nationwide who already have the thermometer. Maybe the Feds or local governments should supply those to everyone, then as fevers spike those folks are tested for the virus.

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