Coronavirus tracking app

[NickFitz]

Reminds me of this quote from B. Franklin

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"

Franklin was in fact arguing in defence of the power of government (the Pennsylvania Assembly) to impose taxes to fund the defence of the then-colony when he wrote that. The “those” in question are the Assembly, and the “essential Liberty” is the power to govern:

Franklin was writing not as a subject being asked to cede his liberty to government, but in his capacity as a legislator being asked to renounce his power to tax lands notionally under his jurisdiction. In other words, the “essential liberty” to which Franklin referred was thus not what we would think of today as civil liberties but, rather, the right of self-governance of a legislature in the interests of collective security…

Franklin was thus complaining of the choice facing the legislature between being able to make funds available for frontier defense and maintaining its right of self-governance--and he was criticizing the governor for suggesting it should be willing to give up the latter to ensure the former.

In short, Franklin was not describing some tension between government power and individual liberty. He was describing, rather, effective self-government in the service of security as the very liberty it would be contemptible to trade.

What Ben Franklin Really Said - Lawfare

[rogerfederer]

So what is the difference between that one and this one?



Shall I unstick that one since you’ve obviously changed your mind...

Fair point. Different university, different research team, optional installation, data not shared between other universities.

I haven't been tested and most likely won't be, so once symptoms dissipate I'll be uninstalling it. Ultimately people don't have to install an app and there's no way to enforce them doing so.

If you are commanded to install this just ensure you and your friends don't.