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Forced to download TT & SGSecure: The startling truth hidden in the reviews of government apps


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Forced to download TT & SGSecure: The startling truth hidden in the reviews of government apps

By kathleen 14/01/2021
 
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In the light of grievances being aired relating to Singapore government apps—namely the technical issues with the TraceTogether app as well as the government’s revelation that the data from the app is accessible to the police despite earlier assurances that the data will only be used for contract tracing purposes—something peculiar and somewhat disturbing was highlighted in a reddit/r/Singapore thread.

Specifically, that many people have been forced to leave positive reviews on government apps in order to boost the app ratings on both the Appstore and Google Playstore.

A couple of people who were full-time National Servicemen (NSFs) noted that they were forced to download the TraceTogether app or sign up for extra duty shifts, or even be charged for insubordination.

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This prompted several other reddit users to share about how they were forced to download the government’s anti-terrorism app, SGSecure and leave a positive review, while they were serving their national service. They, too, were faced with the same threat of signing up for extra shifts if they did not download the app.

 

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One person even said that they could be “literally charged for Disobedience of General Orders” for not downloading the app.

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This extends to apps, as another person said they were asked to ‘like’ Facebook pages that were associated to the Ministry of Defence and to leave positive reviews for the NS cookhouse.

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Sifting through the thousands of reviews of the SGSecure app on both the Apple Appstore and Google Playstore revealed two things.

First, many 5-star reviews that were hyperbolic in describing the effectiveness of the SGSecure app. It is arguably one of the best displays of Singapore’s unique brand of humour on the internet.

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https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2021/01/14/forced-to-download-tt-sgsecure-the-startling-truth-hidden-in-the-reviews-of-government-apps/

 

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The SGSecure app was released back in 2016 as part of a slew of measures for the SGSecure national movement which is aimed at uniting people in the face of terror threats as well as providing training on how to prevent and respond to such attacks.

Reviews from back in 2016 were mostly about malware and viruses which were infecting devices due to the app.

After that, though, the reviews were full of people complaining that they were forced to download the app, as well as the sarcastic ones about how the app saved them from a runway train and such.

 

It is not a leap to imagine that the government had NSFs download the app and leave positive reviews in order to boost the app’s credibility and justify the need for the app in the first place.

As for the TraceTogether app, we couldn’t find any reviews about people being forced by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) or the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to download the app or leave positive reviews.

What we did find were reviews about how people were upset that they had to download the app due to a government mandate, yet the app is still plagued by battery drainage and bluetooth issues.

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Many people feel like they are forced to download the app as the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) announced back in 20 October 2020 that TraceTogether-only SafeEntry will be progressively implemented at popular venues by the end of 2020 such as workplaces, schools, malls, food and beverage outlets and hotels across Singapore.

The TT reviews are also filled with comments about privacy concerns and the government’s u-turn on how the data would be utilised.

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TraceTogether has a 2.4 stars rating on the Appstore. While on the Playstore it’s roughly the same at 2.5 stars. The TraceTogether app, however, has been downloaded over 1 million times on Android.

According to the Singapore Government Developer Portal, the app has been downloaded over 4.2 million times by Singapore residents as of 6 January 2021.

TT-reviews-580x217.png TraceTogether app rating for iOS (left) and Android

As for the SGSecure app, it is rated 2.5 stars out of 5 on the Apple Appstore. While on the Google Playstore, it’s rated 4.5. Though we note that a majority of the 5-star reviews on Google were the sarcastic ones, which has inflated the app’s rating.

The all has also been downloaded over 100,00 times on Android. The numbers are likely higher for iOS, based on the TT download ratios.

It is also clear that the Government still pushing hard for more people to download SGSecure by all the advertising and publicising it has done.

SGSecure-reviews-580x221.png SGSecure app rating for iOS (left) and Android

TOC has reached out the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for comments.

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14 hours ago, socrates469bc said:

while nsfs r busy being pcws, the isrealis r busy hacking into their enemies' computers.

 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idfs-cyber-warrior-8200-intelligence-unit-gets-medal-for-recent-operations/

 

maybe these nsfs will get medals also?????

 

ISR vs SG government are 2 different ends of competency! 

 

1 is 10 yrs foresight the other is 10 yrs hindsight! :hehe:

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22 hours ago, Bigbird said:

 

ISR vs SG government are 2 different ends of competency! 

 

1 is 10 yrs foresight the other is 10 yrs hindsight! :hehe:

 

someone ought to dig out loong loong's parliamentary speech in 2005 regarding why sgp needs a casino.

 

i alrdy pointed out the flaws in his reasoning back then but masses too kumgong to see it.

 

wahahahahhahahaha

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10 hours ago, Satki said:

Now U-turn liao

 

no TT needed to go in for now

 

 

for sure they have not thought through. Imagine the imported cases needing to use this TT

 

and peasants need while foreigners exercise sovereignty again

 

 

 

a more important question, how much was spent on those tokens????

 

no picture no sound until now.

 

nb, govt  really got money to burn.

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2 hours ago, socrates469bc said:

 

a more important question, how much was spent on those tokens????

 

no picture no sound until now.

 

nb, govt  really got money to burn.

 

They realized the token SW has flaws lah!  

 

Probably what they set the token out to do in theory didnt happen in reality!  Just like Poopy! 

 

Wait for V2.0

 

2 hours ago, socrates469bc said:

 

someone ought to dig out loong loong's parliamentary speech in 2005 regarding why sgp needs a casino.

 

i alrdy pointed out the flaws in his reasoning back then but masses too kumgong to see it.

 

wahahahahhahahaha

 

No need lah! He wants to make Sg the Monaco of the ASIA!  Easy revenue stream.  Just like COE & ERP!

 

He just sit back and Collect!

 

Another 40 yrs with raising sea waters, SG will sink liao just like Jakarta & Bangkok!  :hehe:

 

Edited by Bigbird
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7 hours ago, ODACHEK said:

Go change new huan....small and compact...

 

4 hours ago, chamfer said:

So fast spolit???

 

2 hours ago, ManOfTheHour said:

Go change haha. I saw at funan they doing change for faulty token. Can get new slim version

 

Changing soon

@chamfer ya..fast leh. Moi sis tt also spoil except my mum n dad

Shalala lala la la ~ 🌠

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OpenTrace

OpenTrace is the reference implementation of BlueTrace, a privacy-preserving protocol for epidemiological contact tracing to fight COVID-19

https://github.com/opentrace-community

 

Learning about the Singapore Government’s latest BLE TraceTogether Token for pandemic contact tracing, and sniffing the adveritsements with a little bit of Swift code.

https://leap.tardate.com/equipment/tracetogethertoken/

 

Programmers / Geeks above is the source code for your analysis! :wink:

 

I am not teckie! Just some times tiko only! :hehe:

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5 hours ago, Chestnut said:

 

 

 

Changing soon

@chamfer ya..fast leh. Moi sis tt also spoil except my mum n dad

When i was in Q, an auntie said her token( was the earliest batch)gives out red light and had to exchange it.

 

Maybe the QC not good or they outsource to cheapo contractor

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6 minutes ago, Bigbird said:

@kokleong

What happened to all the images in the 1st 3 posts?  It appeared when i created it but disappear later.

 

What did i do wrong? :sweat:

 

source website does not allow hotlinking of images.

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