Singapore’s government will give every citizen a free Fitbitc, with a catch

[Flying Sausages]

https://www.digitaltrends.com/health-fitness/fitbit-singapore-health-contract-fitness-trackers/

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In an effort to encourage a healthier lifestyle, Singapore’s government has partnered with Fitbit to offer its citizens free fitness trackers.

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The activity band itself, which has a $99 price tag, won’t cost a dime. However, in exchange, users will have to subscribe to Fitbit’s premium coaching service, which costs $10 a month, for a year, according to CNBC. On top of that, Singaporeans will have to agree to share whatever data the Fitbit collects with the country’s health board.

Government is giving away free toy to every Singapore citizen?! You don't say because you have to buy this company subscription to get yourself a free $99 free fitbitch fitness trackers.

[Murasaki]

Ah, of course. Data.

[Levent]

government is giving you free shit to track you and you gotta pay to actually use it yourself? time to get those tinfoil hat crafting skills up to task.

[Jurrunio]

Singapore is a totalitarian country, not sure why that's surprising. Tho I wonder how people view Fitbit after that

 

This is inferior to how the Japanese deal wjth the issue though

[yolosnail]

Why do people still buy Fitbits?

They are immensely overpriced for what they are.

I much prefer my Xiaomi Mi Band 3 and it was only £15

[ARikozuM]

How about no. 

 

I could understand the user keeping all rights to the records and only allowing their physician to look at the data, but I can't see why the health board needs to look at the data in its entirety without it having been used for diagnostics. 

 

Also, paying for the service?! It's a tax at that point!

[FezBoy]

7 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

This is inferior to how the Japanese deal wjth the issue though

How is that?

[Herman Mcpootis]

16 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Singapore is a totalitarian country, not sure why that's surprising. Tho I wonder how people view Fitbit after that

 

This is inferior to how the Japanese deal wjth the issue though

This is only really related to our health department, since they're the ones who struck the deal with fitbit.

[Froody129]

Damn, goes to show how much that data is worth. This is a good idea imo, preventative measures can be encouraged using them and ends being much cheaper for the government even if they have to swallow a big cost now 

[Jurrunio]

5 minutes ago, FezBoy said:

How is that?

I think there's something like "obese tax" there. Imagine how much money the US government can milk out if they have it

 

9 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Uh...

 

$100 is chump change for most Singaporeans... and Fitbit trackers only hold genuine value to people who want to stay fit anyway.

So this thing is practically free for anyone who has the right reason to even want it

Now that I think of it totalitarian is not the right word, but its government does have a tigher grip on things. In other words, better if the government's good, worse if the government sucks.

 

Btw it's $120, for people who dont want it in the first place

 

2 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

LOL WHAT

Totally broke my phone's display lol

[ARikozuM]

6 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Now that I think of it totalitarian is not the right word, but its government does have a tigher grip on things. In other words, better if the government's good, worse if the government sucks.

They're authoritarian, much like the US is becoming. 

[Andreas Lilja]

2 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Uh...

https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2019/singapore

 

Not that far.

[Trik'Stari]

2 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

They're authoritarian, much like the US is becoming. 

Indeed.

 

We've already got political parties, or members of a specific political parties, committing acts of violence and making threats to journalists, for speaking to their opposition.

 

Sad times we live in. I'm curious as to what Singapore has planned for this data. Can't fitbits be used as a GPS tracker?

[ARikozuM]

43 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Indeed.

 

We've already got political parties, or members of a specific political parties, committing acts of violence and making threats to journalists, for speaking to their opposition.

Nobody wants to own up to it either.

43 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Sad times we live in. I'm curious as to what Singapore has planned for this data. Can't fitbits be used as a GPS tracker?

Fitbits can be used as trackers, but the more likely scenario, if this is for health consciousness of society at large, would be for community events like 1K, 4K, and 10K, or weekly credits for walking with a group, etc. 

 

I would totally be on board for national workout and jogging/cycling groups, especially if there's an incentive (tax deduction or direct income), and if it's coupled with healthy eating programs (not like the food pyramid designed by General f#cking Mills). 

[Tech_Dreamer]

Why stop at Low-jacking Government vehicles when you can Lowjack jack your entire Citizens in your Country.

[CorsaVaux]

Funny stuff. Reminds me of this scene from Ex Machina
 

(0:40 - 1:20)

 

[CorsaVaux]

7 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

They're authoritarian, much like the US is becoming. 

Private message me if you are able to elaborate on your bold statement.

 

I can conjure up in my mind propositions proposed by US elites that support it, but I'd like to know what you mean specifically. 

[Shreyas1]

If I'm reading this right, then the program is optional, and the tracker costs less than the subscription over the year. So why wouldn't everyone just buy the tracker for 100 bucks?

 

Also, what will they do if you cancel the subscription? Take the bands back by force?

[CorsaVaux]

8 hours ago, yolosnail said:

Why do people still buy Fitbits?

They are immensely overpriced for what they are.

I much prefer my Xiaomi Mi Band 3 and it was only £15

People buy them for reasons people here (Such as yourself specifically) cannot perceive or understand coming from better educated standpoints about technology.

 

Half the people who have fitbits won't ever use them for their intended purposes as they'll use it as a fashion accessory, or money status item only to show them the time when they're not on that iPhone they have in there pocket. Hell, I can guarantee to you, those same people won't even know the name Xiami. To them, it is Apple & Samsung - the rest to them are weird.

[Arika]

and if you refuse the offer? which list do you get put on?

[LeSheen]

18 hours ago, yolosnail said:

Why do people still buy Fitbits?

They are immensely overpriced for what they are.

I much prefer my Xiaomi Mi Band 3 and it was only £15

- Bad accuracy for heart and sleep tracking.

- Fitbit is integrated with way more 3th party apps.

- Not sure, but I thought It didn't display emails?

 

What I like about my "special edition"charge 3 is paying using nfc. Also it's nice to have the option to buy different bands for it.

 

Fitbit is far from perfect, but in my opinion still better then Xiaomi's bands. And yes that's expected from such a price difference. I'm not a fanboy, in fact I'm even looking to leave fitbit for something better (gps-tracking) maybe a polar.

[cluelessgenius]

government: hey can we chip you guys like dogs so we always know where you are and how you are doing and preferrably who you are doing it with? we promise not mis-use that information.

people: eehhh no i dont...

government: the tracker is only 100 bucks.

people: no

government what if we let you pay off the 100 bucks over the course of a year?

people: ...

 

but seriously they are charging people for the device they need to collect their data. i dont know. information about my health is between me and my doctor first. i really dont need them knowing how often per night my heart rate goes up cause im doing stuff you know. (yeah i wear tracker for sleep tracking, dont judge me on the hipocracy of own words at least im not activly allowing them to gather that data on me.)

i think all this new sensor data is great and i believe you should collect as much information about your body as you can. but ideally thats your data and yours alone ...maybe youd want to share some portions of with your doctor in case something is irregular but thats it. im not a fan giving the government even more information about us than they already have. obviously this case doesnt affect me but if successful this trend yould spread. and im not paying for my government tracker.

[Guest]

I think you guys forget 2 very important points:

Social Pressure

Psychological formatting

 

You teach someone to think in a certain since they are young enough then the vast majority will think that way, and the few who don't either will be integrated as the "leaders" who use and control the "system" or they will join the ranks of the weird odd-balls who will become some outcasts of society (and so more eaasily dealt with).

Psychology 101

 

You have it playing just right now in China with the Social Credit System.

And when you see the vast majority of them willingly accept it, defend it and say it's a "good thing" to have a peacefull society it gives me personnally the creeps. And when I see some countries who think it might be a good thing... My god!

And don't tell me that "that's what Communism is for real!", as it's not. In fact it's the furthest thing from Communism, it's an oppressive dictatorship and it has been from the very beginning. It's not even socialism.

 

[cluelessgenius]

3 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

the doctors here have access to a central medical database of every single registered patient, so it'll depend on where you draw the line for "doctor" ._.

well i draw the line at MY doctor. usually people here have their regular doc called "hausarzt" or house doctor. its the one you go to first. your doc of choice if you will. so theres patient doctor confidentiality. he not allowed to discuss other patients with me or my own health with anyone else unless specifically allowed by me. but of course he kinda has to inform everyones health insurance company about treatments and billable stuff.

with this im just afraid it may lead down a dangerous path. next thing you know they are going to offer some sort of deal with your bank to look at your account maybe even some sort off deal on a cheaper car as long as they get to know where you are, but i guess if the fitness tracker has gps thats redundant.

and then you go buy a pack of cigarettes and can watch your health insurance policy go up in real time. or spend your saved up money on something you dont actually need and wtch your credit score go down immediatly. sure im going a bit far with this but i can totally see that and more happening. cause people dont care about information. most dont understand the ramifications of giving up personal information to coorparations and governments. i mean we got people complaining about facebook trading info when they were their stupid ass was the one who gave them the info so willingly. people already constantly tag where they are and what they are doing on social media.

 

but as a ast thing i just want to say agian im not blaming the technolg i think one should gather all the information one can about your own health or your own stuff. i got analytics hooked up to my cars diagnostic port 24/7 to log its behaviour and detect anomalies early. i think most of us have some sort of at least temperature tool running to wathc their pc's behaviour. better yet smart status of hard drives. voltages supplied and fan/pump speeds to detect failures. so why not watch your body aswell. as long as its only you watching.

[kelvinhall05]

On 8/25/2019 at 1:22 PM, yolosnail said:

Why do people still buy Fitbits?

They are immensely overpriced for what they are.

I much prefer my Xiaomi Mi Band 3 and it was only £15

People still buy iPhones and the only thing unique about them is iOS and the antiquated, slow, and proprietary Lighting port.

 

 

iPhones aren't *garbage* per say, but they're hella overpriced.