News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Massachusetts health notifications app installed without users’ knowledge. Parent comment

Re:Massachusetts health notifications app installed without ... by smeej on Saturday June 19, 2021 @08:12AM (#27559823)
Related question I'm not wrapping my head around:

How does the thing know you're a Massachusetts resident?

People who have the contact tracing setting disabled are reporting they still got the app, so the obvious answer seems not to apply.

Is it just getting installed on any device that enters MA? New England states are pretty small, and there's a lot of crossover, especially with states like Maine and New Hampshire, which wouldn't take this very well.

Or, if you have a layover at Boston's Logan airport, do you now end up with its contact tracing app?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Massachusetts health notifications app installed without ... by Jailbird on Saturday June 19, 2021 @08:52AM (#27560036)
Not a resident. I just found it installed due to HN. I am in MA at this time.... and have no idea when it was installed. (Of course I uninstalled it immediately)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Massachusetts health notifications app installed without ... by neltnerb on Saturday June 19, 2021 @01:19PM (#27562341)
If they're also hitting phones that were only in the state temporarily it must be using cell tower locations right? I use an always on VPN and it still auto installed (without opting in) but I have my E911 address set here so I'd have guessed that otherwise.
[ Parent | on HN ]