back to article GSMA suggests mobile carriers bake contact-tracing into their own apps – if governments ask for it

The GSM Association, the body that represents mobile carriers and influences the development of standards, has suggested its members bake virus contact-tracing functionality into their own bundled software. The body today popped out a paper [PDF] on contact-tracing apps. After some unremarkable observations about the need for …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meh.

    No ta. Look, I'm as wary of Corona as the next guy, but this seems like a feature that would never be turned off, even if we manage to get rid of Corona totally.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Big Brother

      Re: Meh.

      It's worse than meh.

      Virus contact tracing is a marketing term. It's just contact tracing with a palatable adjective,

      It's not quite a government back door, more of an open window.

  2. Chris G

    Half baked

    As an idea, this stinks, a baked in contact tracing app that will be a target for dog knows who, to find a way to abuse it. If they turn out like the baked in rubbish on my last Samsung, it will be near impossible to get rid of.

    I wonder what the implications are regarding GDPR too? Opt in to me means that I get to decide whether or not it is on my phone, not a phone manufacturer, a government or even a doctor.

    'Don't touch that tin foil, it's mine!'

    1. JetSetJim

      Re: Half baked

      So far the best proposal has been from Google & Apple, and I don't trust them. This scheme won't catch phones bought from non-operator sources, and will end up with many different implementations, each with their own bugs and exploits.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One advantage of Apple?

    They don't allow carriers to "pre-install" "helpful features".

    Given the quality problems that "carrier code" caused the likes of Nokia (remember them?), then I would dread to think what this could do for phone reliability.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's things like this that allow conspiracy theories to spread. This should not even be a discussion we should be having. Apple and Google have set their stall out for states to use. This just looks like some government sponsored attempt to get it permanently baked into new hardware and we all know exactly how it will be used.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "This just looks like some government sponsored attempt"

      It looks more like fear of missing out on the GSMA's part and maybe also the carriers'.

  5. lglethal Silver badge
    Stop

    And this is one of the reasons why I never turn Bluetooth on...

  6. ItsMeDammit
    FAIL

    Don't let the phone operators have a go (somebody think of the children).

    "The GSM Association, the body that represents mobile carriers and influences the development of standards, has suggested its members bake virus contact-tracing functionality into their own bundled software."

    Another reason to buy SIM free mobile phones that haven't been anywhere near a specific operator. Presumably the manufacturers would comply and add this to their own device specific bloat but my point here is having seen how bad some operator bundled software is, I am quite happy not to have some half-arsed effort forced upon me by amateurs.

    1. ARGO

      Re: Don't let the phone operators have a go (somebody think of the children).

      Can't see the operators being keen to be honest. This would mean they own all the privacy / GDPR stuff. I think they would much rather leave that with government.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like