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A closer look at Thailand’s (non-mandatory) contact tracing apps


rooster59

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50 minutes ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

 

The Thai military regime has turned this into some kind of nationalistic game to show that the Thais are much better than other countries.  

 

In general, this has been practiced since mid 1934 with the completely bizarre Field Marshall Phibunsongkhram, and his rise to power as defense minister, in an attempt to popularize military values, much like contemporary Italy and Germany, at the time. After he became premier in 1938, he changed the name of the country from Siam to Thailand, and began indoctrination, with a ultranationalist propaganda machine.  He started a war with Laos, and Cambodia (French Indochina at the time), and then went on to conclude an alliance with Japan in 1941. What can one even say? He even declared war on the US, and it's allies the following year. Thankfully, the Free Thailand Movement kicked out both the Japanese, and Phibun in 1944. He returned later in 1948. 

 

For the most part, the ultra nationalist movement never ended. It was used by various "different interests" to maintain a sense of control, and promote national pride. As we can see, it is being employed to this day. I will not go into my feelings about it, as it would likely be censored in some fashion, so I will leave it at that. 

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5 hours ago, MJCM said:

The MorChana app is that you need to have Bluetooth and GPS on all the time

 

Not sure what you mean by "GPS on all the time". I know what GPS is of course but how do you turn it on/off on an iPhone?

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6 hours ago, MJCM said:

Yep!

 

I just tried both ThaiChana and MorChana and the ThaiChana will complain about that there is NO Internet connectivity and the MorChana refuses even to start

 

Please note, these are the iPhone apps so no idea about the Android ones

I use Android and yes I had exactly the same problem with the morchana app refusing to open. Thaichana seems ok so far but only used a couple of times.

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7 hours ago, MJCM said:

 

As I understand it, with the ThaiChana APP you scan the Barcodes when you go into a Shop and scan it again when you leave. (I was using the Line App to do that, but will start using the ThaiChana App)

 

The MorChana app is that you need to have Bluetooth and GPS on all the time (together with internet) so when you go into a Shop your phone makes contact with other Phones that have the MorChana app installed.

 

When later they find out that someone is infected with Covid-19 the App knows and will notify all persons that were in the proximity of that person. (hence the reason for having Bluetooth and GPS on all the time)

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When later they find out that someone is infected with Covid-19 the App knows and will notify all persons that were in the proximity of that person

.......and then 

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Soo, if I understand this correctly :

The Mor Chana app doesn’t require you to scan any QR codes, it does it automatically  ??

The Thai Chana app still requires the entry QR code scan but not the exit scan as it is done for you ??

 

I downloaded the Mor Chana app and it appears to work ?, scanned a couple of codes in the house and got the “Alert , wrong data “ message.

 

But, how do you know it is working, there is no way, I can tell, of checking your history ?.

 

Plus, why does it have a code scanner if you don’t need to use it ?

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The OP calls them "non-mandatory apps", yet the Five Conditions for travelling to and from a red zone demand the use of Mor Chana.

 

Quote

 

The severest restrictions apply to travel to and from Samut Sakhon, Chanthaburi, Chonburi, Trat and Rayong where the following checks will be done:

 

1. Temperature and symptoms

2. Reasons for travel and destination asked

3. Mor Chana app on phones checked

4. Are people in possession of the necessary documents for travel

5. Records made of people passing through. 

 

So, "non-mandatory" seems to mean "non-mandatory if you're not going anywhere".

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12 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

Not sure what you mean by "GPS on all the time". I know what GPS is of course but how do you turn it on/off on an iPhone?

Go to Settings scroll down to where it says Morchana (will be in Thai Language) open that.

- Select Location

- Change Location Access to NEVER

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9 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Soo, if I understand this correctly :

The Mor Chana app doesn’t require you to scan any QR codes, it does it automatically  ??

The Thai Chana app still requires the entry QR code scan but not the exit scan as it is done for you ??

 

I downloaded the Mor Chana app and it appears to work ?, scanned a couple of codes in the house and got the “Alert , wrong data “ message.

 

But, how do you know it is working, there is no way, I can tell, of checking your history ?.

 

Plus, why does it have a code scanner if you don’t need to use it ?

 

The Code scanner in Morchana is to scan codes of other MorChana Users.

 

Morchana main purpose is it doesn't scan codes, but it connects via Bluetooth and GPS to other Phone who have Morchana installed and then the APP (in a database somewhere) keeps a record of the people (read phones) you have been in contact with! If now one of these people you have been in contact with gets infected with Covid-19, you will be notified.

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10 hours ago, Felt 35 said:

.......and then 

When you registered MorChana you had to enter your Phone Number you then should have gotten an SMS with a Code which you entered in the MorChana App.

 

So because A) They know your Phone Number and B) They easily can found out who the Phone is registered to (mandatory SIM registration a couple months/years back) you will be contacted.

 

So the app is just like a contact tracing app, but more accurate and more rigorous because it doesn't add your contacts  but all the people that were in your neighborhood that had on their Phones Morchana installed.

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18 hours ago, MJCM said:

The MorChana app is that you need to have Bluetooth and GPS on all the time (together with internet) so when you go into a Shop your phone makes contact with other Phones that have the MorChana app installed.

 

When later they find out that someone is infected with Covid-19 the App knows and will notify all persons that were in the proximity of that person. (hence the reason for having Bluetooth and GPS on all the time)

 

The MorChanna app actually lets you turn bluetooth off. I did this as it was sucking my battery. Its right their in the setup menu, I am far from computer literate and I found it easy.

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14 minutes ago, MJCM said:

 

The Code scanner in Morchana is to scan codes of other MorChana Users.

 

Morchana main purpose is it doesn't scan codes, but it connects via Bluetooth and GPS to other Phone who have Morchana installed and then the APP (in a database somewhere) keeps a record of the people (read phones) you have been in contact with! If now one of these people you have been in contact with gets infected with Covid-19, you will be notified.

So, with Mor Chana you don’t need to do anything other than download it, and set it up ( do the questionnaire ) and then forget about it as it does the tracking and tracing for you ?

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7 minutes ago, Whale said:

 

The MorChanna app actually lets you turn bluetooth off. I did this as it was sucking my battery. Its right their in the setup menu, I am far from computer literate and I found it easy.

 

Yes it lets you do that, but to be accurate it needs it turned on, because through BT it connects to other phones

That's why what I will be doing is:

 

When going into a Shop turn on bluetooth/gps on my PHONE start the Morchana app and when leaving the shop I turn off GPS/Bluetooth and close the Morchana app.

 

Having both GPS and Bluetooth on continuously will be a big drain on your Battery. (and no idea how much Cellular data this app will be using.)

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2 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So, with Mor Chana you don’t need to do anything other than download it, and set it up ( do the questionnaire ) and then forget about it as it does the tracking and tracing for you ?

 

But also use ThaiChana (or another APP) to scan the QR Codes when entering a Shop.

 

But don't leave MORCHANA running because it's a BIG drain on your Battery, so turn it off when leaving the shop

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20 minutes ago, MJCM said:

 

But also use ThaiChana (or another APP) to scan the QR Codes when entering a Shop.

 

But don't leave MORCHANA running because it's a BIG drain on your Battery, so turn it off when leaving the shop

But then why wouldn’t I use just Thaichana app and forget about Morchana ?

To me it’s one or the other ??

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I downloaded Morchana in case a cop wanted some tea-money to tide him over these hard times. As I don't have a satellite feed it only works if the store has accessible wi-fi.  I'll continue to sign in if the facilities are there.

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44 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

But then why wouldn’t I use just Thaichana app and forget about Morchana ?

To me it’s one or the other ??

 

Yeah right, but what about then a place like a Outdoor Fresh Market that doesn't have QR-Codes?

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27 minutes ago, MJCM said:

 

Yeah right, but what about then a place like a Outdoor Fresh Market that doesn't have QR-Codes?

Then I think just having Morchana running is adequate, haven’t noticed a big drain on my battery and it certainly isn’t using any excess data ( I have a 60gb per month plan and is still on 59.77gb ).

 

Not trying to create an argument just looking for the easiest solution, don’t you think using both apps is overkill ?

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3 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Then I think just having Morchana running is adequate, haven’t noticed a big drain on my battery and it certainly isn’t using any excess data ( I have a 60gb per month plan and is still on 59.77gb ).

 

Not trying to create an argument just looking for the easiest solution, don’t you think using both apps is overkill ?

 

Do you have both GPS/BT running all the time?

 

I fully agree it's overkill, but a lot of things in Thailand (like TM30 or TM6)  ????  are. (They just love their data)

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19 minutes ago, MJCM said:

 

Do you have both GPS/BT running all the time?

 

I fully agree it's overkill, but a lot of things in Thailand (like TM30 or TM6)  ????  are. (They just love their data)

Yes, I have both running.

 

If it does appear to be draining the battery then I’ll look at another solution but right now prefer to let it do its thing with as little interaction from me as possible .

( gotta keep the Thai data junkies in a job ???? ).

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1 minute ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yes, I have both running.

 

If it does appear to be draining the battery then I’ll look at another solution but right now prefer to let it do its thing with as little interaction from me as possible .

( gotta keep the Thai data junkies in a job ???? ).

Are you on Android or iPhone?

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23 minutes ago, Kiujunn said:

Does anyone use MorChana in private life? 

Like, meeting up with friends, do you show each other the green QR codes? 

Or when staff comes to clean your place, show each other the green QR codes? 

Taxi drivers?


So, is that what you are supposed to do ??

If you are challenged at an entrance to a mall ( for example ) for not signing in or scanning the QR code , or stopped at a checkpoint you can just open the app and show the green QR code ?

 

I found very little info on how to proceed once you have downloaded the app .

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1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

So, is that what you are supposed to do ??

 Don't know. 

That's what people in China do. 

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

If you are challenged at an entrance to a mall ( for example ) for not signing in or scanning the QR code , or stopped at a checkpoint you can just open the app and show the green QR code

No.

Signing/scanning in serves a different purpose/ works differently. 

You really should do both, scan in and flash a green QR code. 

 

But you could use the green QR code for a lot of less formal settings: taxi, meet friends or family, motorbike taxi, technician fixing something in your condo...

 

 

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