Google promised its contact tracing app was completely private, but it wasn’t

Re:Google promised its contact tracing app was completely pr... by throwawayboise on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @04:36PM (#26961166)

> COVID-19 has had warnings of its level of spread for years with SARS, bird flus, etc.

To me this was all "boy who cried wolf" stuff. I certainly remember media fear porn about SARS, about the expected severity of the next upcoming flu season, etc. It never amounted to anything significant in reality.

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Re:Google promised its contact tracing app was completely pr... by dylan604 on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @04:52PM (#26961374)

But here we are with COVID-19. Each of those flus were slightly worse than the previous leading up to where we are now. It's not that the scientists/doctors were wrong to make the warnings. Similar in how NWS is not wrong to issue Severe Weather warnings as frequently as they do. All it takes is the one time to have had advance warning and to not use it.

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Re:Google promised its contact tracing app was completely pr... by underwater on Tuesday April 27, 2021 @08:43PM (#26964003)

We just lived through two timelines. SARS-CoV-1 in 2003, which was successfully controlled, and SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, which wasn't.

COVID has caused three million deaths and counting, with widespread disruption to society. How could you look at that and say the reaction in 2003 was overstated?

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Re:Google promised its contact tracing app was completely pr... by Izkata on Wednesday April 28, 2021 @12:02AM (#26965427)

You skipped right over the avian and swine flu pandemics, which weren't controlled and evidently barely registered.

Also, the widespread disruption to society has virtually all been from the lockdowns, not the pandemic.

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