Hong Kong sees rush for burner phones as government pushes contact tracing app
Electronics stores in Hong Kong have seen a surge in demand for inexpensive burner phones as the Chinese-dominated city government relaxes coronavirus restrictions but pushes the use of a search app to contacts, which raised confidentiality concerns.
The former British colony has seen anti-government and anti-Chinese protests erupt in 2019 and a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 in response, as well as the arrest of most of its prominent pro-democracy activists.
The government’s rapid turn to authoritarianism, which denies restricting the rights and freedoms of the 7.5 million inhabitants of the special administrative region, has led to deep mistrust of public policies, including measures to curb the coronavirus.
Health Secretary Sophia Chan said the app poses no risk to privacy because it only stores data on users’ phones and no third parties collect it. The app notifies users if they were in the same location with someone confirmed to have COVID-19.
“I’m buying a burner phone because the government clearly doesn’t trust Hong Kong people, so why would I trust them?” said Vincent, 28, an accountant who only gave his first name due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Contact tracing apps have created similar privacy and trust issues around the world, from Singapore to the United States.
Hong Kong lifted the limits on the number of people who can sit together in restaurants to four out of two on Thursday and the 10 p.m. dinner cut-off time from 6 p.m.
Restaurants and other places that have just reopened, such as gyms or beauty salons, are required to write down guest contact details or have them scan a QR code with the LeaveHomeSafe app, which authorities use for research. contacts.
Officials were instructed to scan the code before entering and exiting government offices.
In the working-class neighborhood of Sham Shui Po, the mecca for cheap electronics, more than a dozen vendors told Reuters they had seen an increase in demand for old smartphones since last week when the government announced plans to ease restrictions.
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People are just looking for a cheap smartphone that can run the LeaveHomeSafe app, said Wong, a supplier for Phone House, who said they sold 50 phones last week, up from ten a week previously.
Other providers have reported a three or four-fold increase in sales of inexpensive phones.
I saw a lot more people asking questions and buying older phones on Chinese New Year, said Andy Kwok of Ah Ling Telecommunications. “I had to tell them that the phone has to be at least Android 8 (for the app) to work.”
The most popular phone was the Samsung Galaxy J5, released in 2015, now selling for as low as HK $300 ($38.70).
The app has been downloaded 840,000 times since its launch last November, with more than 70,000 sites participating in the program, the government said this week.
