Freedom-loving motorcycle riders appear evenly divided about the planned coronavirus tracing app with slightly more than half saying they would download it.

The result comes from our quick online survey which attracted 228 respondents, 98% of which were in Australia.

Divided results

Our survey found 51% say they will download the app to help the health authorities trace people with COVID-19 and alert those who have had contact with them.

However, those who will download the app are also divided with 29% saying they would download it regardless.

The remainder ticked “maybe”.

When asked what conditions they would require before downloading, they were divided between fewer travel restrictions (82%) and privacy assurances (63%). Other inducements attracted negligible responses.

The result appears good news for the government which says it needs 40% take-up rate to be effective.

If more than half of the freedom-loving motorcycle riders in our survey say they will download the app, then the government may be on course to reach their desired take-up rate.

But they may need to offer assurances on privacy and may need to offer the inducement of fewer travel restrictions.

There has been talk that if the app doesn’t reach 40%, the government would make it mandatory, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison appears to have quashed that notion.

Some of the other comments by respondents who said yes or maybe to downloading the app include: ability to remove the app; anonymity; time limited and displaying where infected individuals live

TraceTogether app

The app will be based on the Singapore TraceTogether app that has only had a 20% take-up rate.

Since the app development has not yet been completed, there are no details about how ours will vary from the Singapore app and how privacy would be protected.

For example, the Singapore app uses Bluetooth only, but there is talk that the Australian version will also use GPS tracking.

Facebook comments

Interestingly, the comments on our Facebook posts about the app had a substantially different result to our online poll.

Our two Facebook posts reached 4800 of our 20,000+ Facebook followers and attracted only 37 likes.

Of the 160+ comments, about 80% were against downloading the app, citing concerns about privacy and a government conspiracy.

Critics of Facebook may suggest this is an example of how social media attracts a skew of negative comments and conspiracy theorists.

Please note: This poll sampled n=223 Australian respondents which may not be representative of the wider Australian population at large.

If you would like the raw data from our survey, please send me an email and I will forward it to you.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com