Interesting read below, especially if you have diabetes and use bluetooth for diabetes-monitoring apps. What I find more interesting and maybe others can confirm, I am 99% sure I saw this article flick up on the nine news site while I was working, and by the time I finished reading the article, it had disappeared. Like I said I'm not 100% on this but I don't keep a check on the Daily news site. I'm sure the original article had 2 hour old on it and this one has 2 hours. Surely I'm mistaken and her opinion, if in it was actually her opinion, was not censored? The article is referenced though and I stays posted as it does have some interesting points in it and if the info is correct, then the health of diabetics could be compromised.
Australia's leading coronavirus expert at the World Health Organisation REFUSES to download the COVIDSafe app - despite Scott Morrison saying it's our key to lifting lockdowns
Australia's COVIDSafe app only has four million downloads - well short of target
Health authorities warn it must be downloaded before we can return to the pub
But a leading coronavirus expert says she won't install it on privacy grounds
One of Australia's top advisers to the World Health Health Organisation refuses to download the government's coronavirus tracking app.
University of NSW professor Mary-Louise McLaws said until she knew more about where the data it collected was stored and secured, she couldn't install it.
Four million Australians have downloaded CovidSafe since its launch last Sunday night, well short of the 40 per cent the government said it needed.
The app has been plagued with technical issues and privacy concerns despite repeated government promises that it is safe.
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University of NSW professor Mary-Louise McLaws said until she knew more about where the data it collected was stored and secured, she couldn't install it
Professor McLaws, a member of the peak WHO coronavirus response panel, is not convinced, as she is concerned the data could be accessed through Amazon's servers under U.S. law.
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'What's not clear is who the custodian of the data is and where the data is stored. It's not true informed consent,' she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'Until we know what the source code is and until we know whether Amazon has to fulfil Australian law, I won't download the app.'
American delivery giant Amazon won the tender to store the app's data on its servers in the U.S.
The data could theoretically be obtained under American laws through a subpoena, but Health Minister Greg Hunt claimed legal advice said Australian law would prevent this.
Polls indicate more than half of Australians support the app and say they will download it, but only 16 per cent have actually done so.
A new Ipsos poll found 54 per cent supported the app and 37 per cent were opposed, and a Newspoll last Sunday found 54 per cent said they would download it versus 39 who wouldn't.
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Australia's coronavirus tracing app could be interfering with diabetes-monitoring apps. Pictured: A woman uses her mobile phone while walking at Bondi Beach
About a million people downloaded it within the first day, but that trailed off with only a tenth of that installing it by the end of the week.
The government has resorted to all but declaring the 40 per cent threshold is necessary for pubs to open and life to go back to normal.
Critics slammed this rhetoric as 'emotional blackmail' but some supporters have gone as far as saying those who've not installed it shouldn't be allowed outside.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said restarting the economy was as important as stopping the spread of the virus, but that more people had to download the app.
'Australians have earned an early mark through the work that they have done,' he said on Friday.
Expanded testing capacity, boosting tracing through the app and preparing the health system for surges in infections would pave the way for relaxed restrictions.
National Cabinet is confident those conditions have largely been met, allowing leaders to move faster on changing the rules.
The tech community, who within minutes of the app launching were analysing its code, is also divided over whether it is safe to use.
Billionaire chief executive of software firm Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, urged fellow IT gurus to be positive about the app.
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More than four-million Australians have downloaded the COVIDSafe app (pictured), which has been hailed as the nation's ticket out of strict lockdown restrictions
But other IT experts had reservations, and one quickly found several security and privacy holes and warned against downloading the app.
'Vulnerabilities discovered so far: High risk to man in the middle attacks. File references are only deleted, not the file itself,' they wrote.
'Potential that if you delete the app, it will remain on your phone. Likely can be backdoor-ed by the government.'
They also wrote that the app was too easy to clone and create one that looked similar enough to scam people into downloading it and stealing their data.
Some technology experts said they could not support downloading the app until they looked at the source code, which the government has promised to release.
Some users have also reported a glitch with the app after experiencing connection problems with their http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/coron...ey-to-lifting-lockdowns/ar-BB13wtuy?ocid=iehp
The app hopes to slow the spread of coronavirus by using Bluetooth connections to trace who infected people came into close contact with.
Diabetes Australia said there was 'no need to panic' when flagging the connectivity issues in a post to Facebook on Wednesday.
'We have received reports from a number of people with diabetes who have downloaded the COVIDSafe app to their smartphone that they have experienced connection problems with their continuous glucose monitoring apps,' the post said.
'We have advised the Department of Health that there may be an issue.'
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Pictured: A woman in a face mask uses her mobile phone while walking across the Princes Bridge in Melbourne
PM Scott Morrison says the app is an important health tool
Diabetes Australia encouraged those who use an app for CGM and have downloaded COVIDSafe to 'closely monitor' if there are connectivity issues.
'If you are worried, you should temporarily uninstall the COVIDSafe app from your phone,' the post read.
'If you have experienced any issues since downloading the COVIDSafe app, please let us know.'
Diabetes Australia said they would provide additional updates when they receive further information.
Federal and state leaders agreed to bring forward a decision on relaxing coronavirus restrictions after the latest National Cabinet meeting on Friday.
They will decide on relaxing some social and economic clamps on Friday, May 8 - a week earlier than expected.
Chief medical officer Brendan Murphy urged more to sign up, with the number of people on board not enough to make the scheme effective.
'We need the app uptake to be higher before we can say that the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle of contact tracing is there,' he said.
Mr Morrison said getting back to the pub would be rely on people signing up for the app.
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The Federal Government has warned that millions more Australians need to download the app - which was launched on Sunday April 26 - to ease baseline national restrictions
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Federal and state leaders agreed to bring forward a decision on relaxing coronavirus restrictions after the latest National Cabinet meeting on Friday. Pictured: A woman uses her phone in Melbourne during the coronavirus pandemic
'Now if that isn't an incentive for Australians to download COVIDSafe on a Friday, I don't know what is,' he said.
But the COVIDSafe app's tracing capability is not yet operational.
The information gathered by the app cannot yet be passed onto state and territory health officials as it is in the process of being finalised.
'The rules on privacy are being finalised, along with final IT testing,' a Department of Health spokesman said in a statement to the ABC.
'The system will be operational next week ahead of the decision on possible easing of restrictions.'
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd believes it is 'realistic' to expect millions more to sign up before the National Cabinet sits next Friday to consider lifting restrictions.
But he conceded that app is not yet live and won't up and running until next week, and health officials can not use the data but will be able to trace back from the time when someone downloaded the app.
