The government will implement the “pilot scheme” in phases from today (4), requiring all citizens entering government buildings and sports venues to scan the “My Home Purchase” application designed by the Hong Kong government to record the date and Time of entry into the buildings, the first in Admiralty government headquarters and the Tai Po Government Offices in the New Territories today; those who refuse to download the software and scan the QR code must register their personal data; the government outdoor recreational facilities, which will reopen next Tuesday, will also have the same requirement. Next Tuesday, the reopening of government outdoor recreational facilities, also have the same requirements. The Hong Kong government is also considering extending the requirements to Food rhinoceroses and listed premises in the future. Comments that the authorities’ move is to force the public to install applications with tracking capabilities to pave the way.
The Hong Kong government launched the MileagePlus application in mid-November last year, but the response was not enthusiastic because of privacy concerns and fears that the government would use the data to launch a social credit system like the one in mainland China to strengthen control, with 67,000 premises posting QR codes and only 430,000 downloads by early last month, only 5.7% of Hong Kong’s population. The Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Eugene Sit, said at the time that he was not satisfied with the figures, but stressed that the public would still be allowed to participate voluntarily.
Yesterday, the Hong Kong government announced the launch of the pilot program, starting today at the Government Headquarters and Tai Po Government Offices; the second phase will begin after the Chinese New Year, starting from the 16th of this month, people entering and leaving the Central Harbour Government Offices, Mong Kok Government Offices and Tuen Mun Government Offices are required to use “My Home Purchase” to record. The Hong Kong government expects to encourage civil servants and citizens to “develop the habit of recording their whereabouts” through the pilot program.
According to the plan, the public can still tolerate the inconvenience and confidentiality of the information is sufficient to decide whether to use the tracking software, but 180,000 civil servants have very little choice. The Civil Service Bureau yesterday sent a letter to civil servants “strongly encouraging” them to use the MileagePlus App when entering government headquarters, scanning the QR code that connects them to the program. The Hong Kong Federation of Civil Servants’ Unions director general, Mr. Leung Chi-ting, said the authorities said “strongly encouraged”, but for civil servants, it is the same as a necessity, so there is a choice!
Respiratory specialist Dr. Leung Chi-chiu questioned the effectiveness of the government’s “hard sell” of the peace of mind travel software, saying that the program only reminds users that they have been in the same place as the patient, which does not reflect how high the risk of exposure to the Epidemic is, and that it is difficult for the Hong Kong government to monitor the use of the program by everyone entering non-government premises. He also questioned the Government’s measures are contradictory, because the premise of the Hong Kong Government to reopen the Kang Wen facilities is low risk of infection, high risk should not be reopened, but now the low risk and the public to use the “peace of mind travel”, then the role of data collection is not very useful.
In addition, former legislator Mao Mengjing criticized that the Hong Kong government’s move is to force the public to use public facilities or services when using the procedures, so that the public is used to “being recorded”, is obviously to force the “peace of mind travel” to pave the way, in the name of epidemic prevention, monitoring the freedom of the public as the reality. She questioned, Kang Wen facilities forced to promote peace of mind travel, the public still have a choice, but if the future implementation to public transport, it can basically control more than 90% of the people in Hong Kong.
In the first launch of the pilot program in Admiralty Government headquarters, staff and public access is still smooth, there is the first time to use the “My Home Purchase” civil servants said that the use of procedures to help track patients, hope that gradually fully implemented to other non-government buildings. But some civil servants think that the authorities are redundant, because they have long needed to use their staff cards to photograph card access to government headquarters, has been able to track access records, but as civil servants, even if inconvenient, will cooperate with the authorities’ measures.
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