At present, if citizens want to enter designated premises, they need to scan the QR code of the premises with "Safe Travel" and record their whereabouts in the "Safe Travel" on their mobile phones.
Some pro-establishment lawmakers have proposed adding an automatic tracking function to "Travel with Peace of Mind" and "centralize" all data and store it in a government database. However, many citizens are concerned about privacy issues.
Tian Beichen, a member of the Legislative Council of the Real Politics Roundtable, revealed that the government will announce a new measure. In the future, citizens will be required to display vaccination records before entering designated premises, which is no longer the current method. He also pointed out that the new measure can kill two birds with one stone.
Citizens have submitted their mobile phone numbers and consented to the use of personal data by the government when making an appointment for a new crown vaccination.
(Screenshot of the appointment system for the COVID-19 vaccination plan)
Last Thursday (27th), the Office of the Director of Information Technology announced the launch of "Safe Travel" version 3.0, which simplifies the process of displaying the electronic needle card, and refers to preparing for the implementation of the expanded "Vaccine Pass" in the future.
Currently, there is no need to display a pin card when entering and exiting designated places such as restaurants, and only need to scan the QR code of the place with "Safe Travel", which means that the procedures for citizens to enter and exit designated places will be changed in the future.
Citizens' visit records are stored in the premises equipment and will be extracted if anyone is diagnosed
The government announced that the "Vaccine Pass" will be implemented on February 24. Tian Beichen expects that the government will announce new measures in the short term.
He said that starting from February 24, before entering the designated premises, citizens need to show the electronic needle card to the staff, and the staff will scan the vaccine record with the company's device (such as a mobile phone), encrypt and store it in the mobile phone.
As long as there are confirmed visits to the place, the government will send someone to extract data from the company's mobile phone, and instantly know who needs to be tested.
Since citizens have left their contact information when they are vaccinated, DH staff can quickly notify those who need to be tested.
If the tester is confirmed to be diagnosed, the places he has been to are traced again, and the information is extracted from those premises.
According to the FEHD's "Vaccine Bubble" website, currently designated persons-in-charge of premises can download the "Verification QR Code Scanner" mobile application to read the vaccination records or exemption certificates, as well as the test records of the last 3 days. The new measure will be to adopt this approach.
Will not collect the whereabouts all the time
Tian Beichen pointed out that some citizens believe that the real-name system of "Travel with Peace of Mind" may violate privacy regulations, and there are concerns that the real-name system stored in the central database may be misappropriated without permission.
He said that the government considered that it would take time to amend the privacy ordinance, and that if the public went to court, the lawsuit might take a long time and they might lose, so it decided to adopt a more feasible and acceptable method.
He added that under this method, the government would only know who showed up at the specified time, and would not collect all the whereabouts of everyone all the time. I believe the public would be more accepting.
In addition, since citizens must display pin cards when entering and leaving designated places, Tian Beichen pointed out that this is a one-stone, two-bird strategy, which not only resolves privacy disputes, but also achieves the effect of "gut needles".
Tian Beichen expects that the measures that citizens need to display pin cards when entering designated premises can achieve the effect of killing two birds with one stone. It can not only track the transmission chain while reducing privacy disputes, but also achieve the effect of "pins in the valley".
(file picture)
In an earlier interview with a TV station, the Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Xue Yongheng, also stated that he was researching ways to track the confirmed cases. He pointed out that the records of the "vaccine passport" would be used to notify high-risk people for testing. Displaying pin cards or scanning QR codes may cause crowds to gather.
The Chief Executive Carrie Lam also said earlier that the "vaccine passport" is not equivalent to the real-name system, but the large-scale introduction of the "vaccine passport" will make people who have not had injections less choice, "there is a clear difference."
Vaccine Pass｜The QR code of the customer's needle card needs to be retained at the restaurant. The government vaccine pass is required for the outbreak on the 31st day. The exemption is limited for two reasons. The longest is only 180 days. : Records are provided at the premises during the outbreak for tracking