David Almirol, Jr., chief executive officer and founder of MultiSys Technologies Corporation, said that they sought the advice of different government agencies, including the Department of Health and the Department of Information and Communications Technology, citing reports that some users feel that they were under surveillance.
“Ang good news po sa lahat ngayon, tinanggal na po yung GPS sa system…wala na ring Bluetooth yung bagong version ng StaySafe. Para maging kampante na po tayo,” Almirol told CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Ngayon.
[Translation: The good news is that the GPS was already removed from the system…. there’s also no Bluetooth connectivity in the latest version of StaySafe. So we can all be comfortable.]
StaySafe was first rolled out in April. It used to collect data via GPS, to track user’s location, and Bluetooth.
Almirol said that the latest version of StaySafe is linked with the data from laboratories to easily identify those who are infected.
“Aside sa self-declaration mo na sasabihin dun na wala kang lagnat or wala kang nakatabi na may COVID-19, naka-link talaga siya sa laboratory cases para maharangan natin yung mga may COVID-19,” he said. “Kahit magsinungaling ka, alam ng system na ikaw ay positive case.”
[Translation: Aside from the self-declaration, wherein you will state that you don’t have fever or had a contact with a COVID-19-infected person, the app is linked with laboratory cases so we can prevent those infected from entering establishments. Even though you lie with your status, the system is aware that you are a positive case.]
Almirol said that almost 6 million are using the StaySafe system nationwide.
The country has recorded 450,733 COVID-19 cases as of Dec. 14, with more than 8,700 casualties and around 418,000 recoveries.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 14) – Developers have removed the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Bluetooth connection in the government’s contact-tracing application, StaySafe, following data privacy concerns.
