Re:Show HN: How does the French health pass work?
by seszett on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @11:16AM
(#27209859)
That's right! I had read it wrong somehow. I don't find the information that is actually included to be too sensitive then.
It might have been useful in this case but the French government itself is not allowed to have a general-purpose database of citizen's addresses. Even the address that the social security has for contact purposes cannot be legally used for this (and is probably unreliable anyway as people forget to update their address when moving) and I don't think many people would have been comfortable with communicating their addresses for the purposes of Covid tracking.
Re:Show HN: How does the French health pass work?
by mytailorisrich on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @11:55AM
(#27210387)
Of course they can collect addresses for this if they want. It's not a general-purpose database, either.
One problem we're having in this pandemic is the squeamish and "can't do" attitude on about everything.
I agree with you that it's not useful information for the purpose of a "health pass" used to gain access to venues and events. On the other hand, as a matter of Covid response strategy and enforcement of any restrictions (so for the authorities at large) it is very useful to know where a person that has tested positive lives.