despite the canadian government and many experts saying that the de-centralized nature of the exposure tracking software is a private and secure way to keep the public safe, the discovery that this software was installed on users’ phones without permission can be alarming. however, it doesn’t mean your phone is engaging in exposure tracing without your knowledge.
what has been installed on your phone isn’t the exposure tracing app itself, but rather software that will allow these apps to work, according to the faq jointly released by apple and google . the installed software is also currently switched to off by default. in order for the exposure tracing framework to work, users must switch the software on in their phone’s settings and consent to the terms and conditions. canadians must also download the covid alert app.
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this software roll-out wasn’t without its hiccups. how these operating systems define and log a potential exposure to covid-19 is different from public health (and the covid alert app), leading to confusion in previous months, according to the national post .
to completely uninstall the framework would likely require users to go back to a previous version of the phone’s operating system and disable any future updates, according to forbes . however, as security precautions must constantly evolve, rolling back to a previous framework is a “bad idea” and would make your phone and data vulnerable to cyberattacks.
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emjones@postmedia.com | @jonesyjourn