Η κυβέρνηση της Κίνας έβγαλε εφαρμογή που προειδοποιεί τους πολίτες εάν έχουν πλησιάσει κάποιον που έχει μολυνθεί από τον coronavirus
With the death toll in China continuing to rise from the coronavirus, the government has activated all the tools at its disposal for a massive surveillance of all its citizens. It has paid more attention to those citizens who are on the move, in order to try to slow down the spread of the disease.
For this purpose, he also released an application for cell phones phones which informs users if they have been found or are close to someone infected with the coronavirus
This application is called "close contact detector" (detector στενής επαφής) και όπως αναφέρει το κρατικό πρακτορείο ειδήσεων Xinhua, οι Κινέζοι πολίτες μπορούν να έχουν πρόσβαση σε αυτή με τη σάρωση ειδικού κώδικα QR μέσα από γνωστές εφαρμογές όπως το WeChat and QQ. After scanning the code, the user will be taken to a form where they can enter their name, phone number and government-issued identification number. The app will then inform the user if they have been in close contact with someone infected or suspected of being infected with the coronavirus
The app defines "close contact" as people who were on the same plane or train as an infected person, people who work in the same office or watch school in the same class, people who are close to medical personnel or family members who were around those infected with the virus. If the application notifies the user that they have been in close contact with someone infected with the coronavirus, then it recommends that they stay at home and contact health authorities immediately.
The "close contact detector" application was developed jointly by government agencies and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and supported by health authorities and transport.
While the app has its advantages and looks like it can at least help prevent the spread of the disease, it is also a worrying reminder of how closely China monitors its citizens, knowing so much about them, that it can comfortably say that someone was on the same train or at the same doctor as someone else.
By extension, we can not help but think that existing technology can easily bring us face to face with a big brother, and how right he was. George Orwell when he wrote in 1984.
