Interesting news item about the NBA's plans to set up shop at the south end of Disney World and all the gizmos being deployed to minimize the risk of infection.
One of the tools the NBA will use with players is a “smart ring” that players will wear during their time at Disney World. The ring can measure body temperature, respiratory functions and heart rate, which are all things that can signal whether or not someone is sick. All players and essential staff members will be given the option to participate in health monitoring using the ring. The titanium rings, reportedly made by Oura, are capable of predicting COVID-19 symptoms up to three days in advance with 90% accuracy, according to the company.
Sounds like something McCoy would deploy on the Enterprise. The computer can tell when you're hot and bothered, which raises some interesting privacy issues while aiding in the player's health.
Players will also be given access to a MagicBand that they will be required to wear at all times, except during workouts and games. The Disney MagicBand will act as a hotel room key and let players check in at security checkpoints and coronavirus screenings. It’s similar to the device of the same name that Disney World guests can use for access to hotels and payments for food and gifts inside the park.
The MagicBands can also help the league with contact tracing. The league is investigating a way to use the bands to know if a player diagnosed with Covid-19 has come into contact with another player.
The first part sounds like the RFID key fobs that I used to use to get into Chemical Bank when I worked their last year. Midland's hospital uses them; I took a friend to get some lab work done, waited outside, and watch a number of hospital staff stick their badge by the door to unlock it.
The contract tracing part has more than a bit of Big Brother in it. Beijing would love that app, to let them know who's hanging out with folks they deem trouble-makers. The application here, to let them know who's been around germ-bags, is benign, but that's a lot of information to play with.
This has been in the news previously in the form of proposed contract tracing apps on smartphones. Do you want your government to know who you're hanging out with? Do you want Apple or Google to know?
Big Brother need not be a government, it can be one of those tech giants. Janis Joplin's backup band was Big Brother and the Holding Company; today, Big Brother is the holding company (Google's parent Alphabet, anyone?). That made such apps undesirable, especially in privacy-sensitive Europe.
Physical distancing is another key area the NBA is focusing on. The league said that to “help promote adherence to physical distancing rules,” all team and league staff will be required to wear a small device on their credential that will serve as an alarm that will set off an audio alert when within six feet of another person for a period longer than five seconds. The memo said the alarm can detect allowable pairs of people, such as teammates, a physician or patient, and it won’t set off the alarm. Players will be given the option to wear this alarm, but it’s not a requirement.
There's a Saturday Night Live skit or two waiting to be made with that one; it's past my bedtime, so it might have already been done for all I know. Once again, don't give Beijing any ideas.
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