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HELLFIRE
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join:2009-11-25

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HELLFIRE

MVM

Mass. Dept of Health sued:conspiring to install COVID app on 1M Android phs

Standard preface : sharing strictly from a security / privacy interest; I am more than aware of the unsavory reputation said backers have in certain circles. See where this goes, take what you will from this...

»www.theregister.com/2022 ··· s_state/
quote:
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health conspired with Google to secretly install a COVID-19 tracing app onto more than 1 million Android users' devices without their knowledge and without obtaining warrants, according to a class-action lawsuit filed this week by the New Civil Liberties Alliance. The New Civil Liberties Alliance claims to be a "nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group." Its biggest donors include right-wing backers such as the Charles G. Koch Foundation and the Charles Koch Institute. In September 2020, the group represented a Virgiain landlord who sued the Centers for Disease Control to allow him to evict tenants during the pandemic. The Massachusetts app, according to the legal complaint, gave the public health department, Google, application developers, and others access to the device owners' media access control addresses, wireless network IP addresses, phone numbers, contacts and emails, thus making these parties privy to the owners' personal information, location and movement. If Android users discovered and deleted the COVID-19 tracer, the state's health agency would reinstall it on their devices, the lawsuit alleges. "In sum, DPH installed spyware that deliberately tracks and records movement and personal contacts onto over a million mobile devices without their owners' permission and awareness," the lawsuit claims [PDF]. "On knowledge and belief, that spyware still exists on the overwhelming majority of the devices on which it was installed." ... This violates Android device owners' federal privacy and unreasonable search protections as well as the state's computer crime laws, according to the lawsuit, which also names the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Commissioner Margret Cooke as a defendant.
Regards
tlbepson
Premium Member
join:2002-02-09
dc metro

2 recommendations

tlbepson

Premium Member

>>"a Virgiain..."

I think that's a typo and most likely should be "a Virginia..."???


HELLFIRE
MVM
join:2009-11-25

2 recommendations

HELLFIRE

MVM

said by tlbepson:

>>"a Virgiain..."

Spelled as-is in the source article... but yeah, probably what they meant.

Regards
tlbepson
Premium Member
join:2002-02-09
dc metro

3 recommendations

tlbepson

Premium Member

hellfire:
>>Spelled as-is in the source article

Yes...I figured that but...then I thought...perhaps it's some new state/county/country I was unaware of...

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