1984

[nigel99 474]

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/cafe-bar-check-ins-to-be-mandatory-in-wa-from-december-5-20201125-p56hx6.html

I am really strongly opposed to this! Yes I know Facebook, Apple and google all have the same information but this is government mandated registration. I essentially do not have a choice but to comply. With the  Facebook etc I can choose not to be involved 

[jakee 1,489]

1 hour ago, nigel99 said:

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/cafe-bar-check-ins-to-be-mandatory-in-wa-from-december-5-20201125-p56hx6.html

I am really strongly opposed to this! Yes I know Facebook, Apple and google all have the same information but this is government mandated registration. I essentially do not have a choice but to comply. With the  Facebook etc I can choose not to be involved 

You can choose not to go to a cafe.

[nigel99 474]

19 minutes ago, jakee said:

You can choose not to go to a cafe.

Sporting venues, gyms etc. I spend a lot of time at those places. Quite a few places that are a normal part of a healthy lifestyle

[jakee 1,489]

13 minutes ago, nigel99 said:

Sporting venues, gyms etc. I spend a lot of time at those places. Quite a few places that are a normal part of a healthy lifestyle

I got into some of the best overall shape of my life during the first lockdown when all the gyms were closed. You can choose not to go to the gym and stay healthy.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, jakee said:

I got into some of the best overall shape of my life during the first lockdown when all the gyms were closed. You can choose not to go to the gym and stay healthy.

Yup. With a modest weight set and jogging, anyone can get their strength training / aerobics to stay fit without setting foot in a gym. Why should I pay for something I can do for free (minus the initial cost for weights of course)? Expensive fads and gimmicky machines aren't needed, only commitment is.

[BIGUN 1,314]

3 hours ago, nigel99 said:

I am really strongly opposed to this!

Welcome to the Republican Party.

[wmw999 2,447]

Pretty much everyone is for "sensible" measures that don't gore their ox. Finding the line between sensible and intrusive is kind of difficult, especially when they shift, for social (changing tastes) or politial (yeah) reasons.

It's one of the things that public servants are supposed to discuss and establish, and there's always someone who's unhappy -- either the person whose means of earning a living is impacted, or the person who all of a sudden can't go out of their home (or any of their family, either), for fear of contagion.

Wendy P.

[JoeWeber 2,720]

3 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

Pretty much everyone is for "sensible" measures that don't gore their ox. Finding the line between sensible and intrusive is kind of difficult, especially when they shift, for social (changing tastes) or politial (yeah) reasons.

It's one of the things that public servants are supposed to discuss and establish, and there's always someone who's unhappy -- either the person whose means of earning a living is impacted, or the person who all of a sudden can't go out of their home (or any of their family, either), for fear of contagion.

Wendy P.

Maybe. But an official government mandated tracking system does seem a little much. They already have the ability to track us by cell phone, cctv and more so maybe the horse has already escaped the barn. Still.....

[olofscience 480]

25 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

Welcome to the Republican Party.

Recent events have shown that no, the Republican Party doesn't really stand for their old values anymore - it's all Trump's party now. Whatever Trump stands for. Lies and denial of reality.

[gowlerk 2,192]

I agree. It’s downright offensive except as an emergency measure. And probably overkill. 

[wmw999 2,447]

5 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

Maybe. But an official government mandated tracking system does seem a little much. They already have the ability to track us by cell phone, cctv and more so maybe the horse has already escaped the barn. Still.....

I kind of agree, but in this day of street cameras all over the place in much of the world, and lots of people using their cell phones to say where they are at any moment, I think the definition of privacy is changing. In ways I prefer it wouldn't, but I'm probably not in charge of a massive social change, just in how I interact with it, and how I vote.

Edited to add: Gowlerk said it better - probably overkill where there isn't any covid anyway. And if enough people think it's downright offensive, it hopefully won't last long

Wendy P.

[JoeWeber 2,720]

1 minute ago, wmw999 said:

I kind of agree, but in this day of street cameras all over the place in much of the world, and lots of people using their cell phones to say where they are at any moment, I think the definition of privacy is changing. In ways I prefer it wouldn't, but I'm probably not in charge of a massive social change, just in how I interact with it, and how I vote.

Edited to add: Gowlerk said it better - probably overkill where there isn't any covid anyway. And if enough people think it's downright offensive, it hopefully won't last long

Wendy P.

Once there are people with government job titles and public employee union job protections administering the program it'll be hard to shut down.

[olofscience 480]

1 minute ago, JoeWeber said:

Maybe. But an official government mandated tracking system does seem a little much. They already have the ability to track us by cell phone, cctv and more so maybe the horse has already escaped the barn. Still.....

Well you'll still need a half competent government to be able to exploit it.

The UK has the highest number of CCTV cameras, high percentage of smartphone ownership, high popularity of Ring doorbells and "smart speakers", so you'd think it was Big Brother's paradise.

When it came to contact tracing for covid-19 though our government fell on its face - only a tiny percentage of contacts were traced, with the second wave here it's pretty much overwhelmed. The £12 billion programme even missed 16,000 contacts because they Microsoft Excel version 2003 (or earlier) and the row limit got reached.

[gowlerk 2,192]

1 minute ago, JoeWeber said:

Once there are people with government job titles and public employee union job protections administering the program it'll be hard to shut down.

Nah, they will be people seconded from their regular jobs. They will be happy to return to normal. Scanning your QR code for access is an idea stolen from China.

[gowlerk 2,192]

I see that places of worship are included. I’m pretty sure that will not fly.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, olofscience said:

When it came to contact tracing for covid-19 though our government fell on its face - only a tiny percentage of contacts were traced, with the second wave here it's pretty much overwhelmed. The £12 billion programme even missed 16,000 contacts because they Microsoft Excel version 2003 (or earlier) and the row limit got reached.

LOL - where can I read about this? Does the UK Register know?

[olofscience 480]

12 minutes ago, markharju said:

LOL - where can I read about this? Does the UK Register know?

Oh, definitely.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/05/excel_england_coronavirus_contact_error/

edit to add: what's even funnier is their "solution" being to "break up the data into smaller spreadsheets". You'd think with £12 billion of our money they'd at least spend some of it upgrading to a more recent version...or a proper solution not involving Excel.

Edited November 25, 2020 by olofscience

[nigel99 474]

1 hour ago, gowlerk said:

I see that places of worship are included. I’m pretty sure that will not fly.

It isn’t America, that won’t be a problem. I agree it is overkill, and also have a sneaky feeling this is here to stay. In WA we have had one of the best responses to COVID in the world. We are isolated and shut down quickly and hard. 

I spend a few nights a week at the wind tunnel and they have to implement it, I also swim a few times a week and that will be as well. 

As the article says this has been implemented over a period of weeks (not months). At what point does the government demand mandatory ID “for the greater good”?

We all know that there will be future epidemics and we need to have the tools in place to mitigate and minimise the effects. I just would have preferred broader consultation before this solution was implemented. There might have been alternatives. 

Edited November 25, 2020 by nigel99

[gowlerk 2,192]

15 minutes ago, nigel99 said:

It isn’t America, that won’t be a problem.

It would be a problem in Canada.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, olofscience said:

Oh, definitely.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/05/excel_england_coronavirus_contact_error/

edit to add: what's even funnier is their "solution" being to "break up the data into smaller spreadsheets". You'd think with £12 billion of our money they'd at least spend some of it upgrading to a more recent version...or a proper solution not involving Excel.

ROFL! Any IT puke worth his (or her) salt knows that magic number (16,384) by heart. What an embarrassment. UNBELIEVABLE. Edit to add: this cannot be real. It must be some mistake or misunderstanding, or has been sensationalized by the media. Edit to add: Certainly, if this gross error resulted in deaths, it is not a laughing matter.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Guest

[BIGUN 1,314]

2 hours ago, olofscience said:

the Republican Party doesn't really stand for their old values anymore - it's all Trump's party now. Whatever Trump stands for. Lies and denial of reality.

I was just giving Nigel some shit. And, Trump is yesterday's news. You guys can let it go now. 

[wmw999 2,447]

8 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

I was just giving Nigel some shit. And, Trump is yesterday's news. You guys can let it go now. 

Until he quits trying to leave land mines for the new administration so they look bad, he's not yesterday's news, although he's heading there. At least a transition is likely to be more orderly now, with briefings happening.

Wendy P.

[gowlerk 2,192]

10 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

I was just giving Nigel some shit. And, Trump is yesterday's news. You guys can let it go now. 

Soon to be the past I guess. But the past informs the future, and he has done a lot of damage.

[BIGUN 1,314]

3 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

Until he quits trying to leave land mines for the new administration so they look bad,

When kids are throwing hissy fits; you don't reward them with attention; you ignore them until the hissy fit becomes irrelevant. Enjoy the holidays and in less than 60 days this too shall pass.  

[wmw999 2,447]

Man I sure hope so.

Wendy P.