Yeah and when people use that, it only leads to bad things. We don't need more of that crap. If so many people feel this way, then perhaps my kind are not compatible with this planet anymore. It's a shame, because the world are turning into a bunch of pussies who are too scared to live and too angry to face the fact that they're too scared and everyone's too mean to them.

It isn't contact tracing that is a privacy violation. It's big-tech that is a privacy violation. IF you really want to cross that bridge, then take your anger to the lawmakers (on both sides) who did not get caught up with technological developments. That's the reason we're where we're at right now. The information superhighway had been presented as such an exciting concept that people wanted to just hope that companies would use the power for good, well how did that work for ya? Not so great. Lawmakers were still old cranks that had no idea what they were screwing with. The NSA had gone too far with the elicit warantless search, and companies originally being unknowingly mandated to provide metadata saw this as a goldmine waiting to be exposed, and so then data became a market force. It's big-tech's fault for being unscrupulous, but we kind of did it to ourselves too by actually trusting that they would act in good conscience (the Cambridge Analytica scandal is nothing new for those of us who had actually been paranoid about where our data was going to begin with). Of course now there's no turning back because no one wants to have the whole array of services that we've had added to our internet bill even though that would result in some piece of mind, and there are also people dumb enough to trust the cloud rather than buying external hard drives. There are people without the patience or the inclination to set up a smart home infrastructure on their own, or at the very least a self-deployable cloud infrastructure even through a goddamn vps. And why is that? Because most of society underuses technology. For watching bad reality tv. For posting 95% picture content on social media platforms that encourages shallow thought and bottomless scrolling. Nevre once caring about the inner workings of their technology - I always have to refer back to this article for the reason that it is partially on us as a society.
So, yeah, I'm a privacy advocate but I'm not at all a fan of the people just now coming out and saying oh but my privacy! when contact tracing is proposed. You had years worth of opportunity to start using decentralized options. You had years worth of opportunity to call out these companies and give up a little bit of convenience in the process. And you squandered them. That's on us, at least those who refused to see the writing on the wall. The ones who parroted the nothing to hide, nothing to fear mantra, truly believing they had nothing to hide. The people who call us paranoid for locking down our defenses, or for carrying an extra security dongle with us rather than bending to the will of text message-based authentication. Big tech knows that most people would rather die than give up convenience. But then once it's convenient for them to pull out the privacy card, i.e. refusal to accept contact tracing, then they raise hell? Congratulations for finally caring, too bad it's too late.

@155
They're not $15.  You can get them for as low as like $1 each.  My father orders them in bulk because he runs a construction company, and I think he's doing way better than that even, and I've got a box of disposable ones that was like 50 for $30.

Ok, Accman. If everyone, like you have said, didn't need to be reminded to wash their hands, or avoid coughing into the open, or breathe down each other's necks? Then maybe we wouldn't be where we are now. But you'd be surprised how many people still, even through all this, leave the bathroom without washing their hands - and given Covid is highly contagious, you can't just let thos honest total idiots run loose. Re: your point about mask requirements from an employer being dumb, I beg to differ. Pearson not caring about accessibility enough is dumb (I'm not buying any of what pearson's liaisons tell the nfb anymore after Sengage accessibility efforts have proven their commitment of actual action, whereas Pearson is all talk and absolutely no action). However, thanks to the screen-reader incompatibility, this now means that Pearson needs to send an underpaid staffer to proctor your test. I would be appreciative of the fact that they are at least trying to consider the safety of their employees and requiring people to wear masks. And let's say that some undeniable evidence were to come out and claim that masks were ineffective. Are you going to then still say that company requiring masks is dumb? Are you going to blame them for something they didn't know? That's the reality, there's too much about the pandemic that we don't know, and so as long as masks are at least somewhat effective I would say the more preferable route is to be a little too careful.
To be clear, they are entirely to blame for their inaccessibility, especially considering there are lesser known companies that have made advancements in accessibility, so Pearson has no excuse. But just like you don't take issue to people wearing the masks, show a little restraint for companies who are probably doing their best from a health and safety standpoint.

It is not stupid to hire someone for not wearing a mask. Masks have been established to work. You can choose not to believe it, or to deny it, but what you do or do not think is irrelevent. In this world we have something called objective reality.  That means that gravity exists regardless of the fact if you believe in it or not. You can't just say, I think gravity is a stupid conspiracy theory and isn't real, so I will jump out of my 30th floor balcony. The world doesn't work that way. By not wearing a mask, you are exposing others to unnecesary additional risk. Also, while masks are not complete solutions, they dramatically cut down transmition. What this means, is that  lockdowns and shutdowns happen much less, as transmition rates determine decisions to relax or reimpose restrictions. That mask may enable transmision to drop to 1% instead of 25%, and cause life to return closer to what it once was.

Yes they do work.  My point is to not hire a qualified person because they don't wear a mask is ridiculous.

Vaccines are herd immunity plus getting there just requires everyone to get a couple shots. No more, no less.

Accman, it is good to see that you're willing to concede at least a bit here.

I am still not interested in engaging you very much on a personal level - actions louder than words, and all that - but I do want to offer one piece of guidance.

You say that you'll do whatever it takes, under protest, to get your certification. This is good. I agree with Jack, too, about Pearson's inaccessibility being inexcusable. That part is totally on them, and you shouldn't be going through that.
Be that as it may, there's another side to this. On the one hand, yes, it might seem silly to turn someone with otherwise good qualifications down. But it also might be silly for the person with good qualifications to quibble about wearing a mask instead of, y'know, getting that job and kicking ass. There is responsibility on both sides. But where Pearson can always find somebody else, or some other company can just hire somebody else, there is no magical solution you can expect to make sure your family does well. You are at least partially responsible for the well-being of your family on a financial level, correct? This means that if you turn your nose up at the wearing of a mask, you're turning your nose up at a solution which, while not perfect, is better than no solution at all.
Where the guidance comes into play is very simple. Protest in your head.
You are not going to change anything by expressing outrage at having to wear a mask, not in this situation. Your needs are not greater than the company's needs, and there is absolutely no way you will get what you want that way. If you are truly willing to do what needs to be done, just do it. People who know you will know how much you hate it; let that be enough. This is going to end eventually; nobody knows when. Between now and then, just content yourself with the fact that you've registered your outrage, and now it's time to get shit done. Every breath you use to complain is a breath you are not using to better your circumstances, and the circumstances of those who are depending on you.

Also, I did not fail to miss what you said about music and playing on a stage while wearing a mask. You didn't say there were no gigs available (though maybe there aren't). You said you refuse to wear a mask on stage. Same deal, dude. I'm not going to let masks stop me from working, and you shouldn't either. It's important to realize that wearing a mask does not make you a sheep. It doesn't change your thoughts and it doesn't mean you're betraying your values. If you have to, think of it as going along to get along because your country hasn't gotten itself straight yet. Try and think of it as something onerous you can do to help that process along; yeah, it's unpleasant, but it does do at least some measurable good. It opens doors that would otherwise remain closed to you at this time, and it allows you a better chance to be self-sufficient instead of feeling like you're one check away from being screwed.
There is a huge difference between "I hate doing this" and "I won't fucking do this". Trust me, a large majority of people I know don't like wearing masks, and we complain about it sometimes. But we do it because we recognize that if we want to help our country, it might be one thing we can do which will have beneficial impact. I think the main reason you're getting so much blowback here is because you're stuck on "I won't do this", or were until very recently. I can understand how much it seems like you're being forced to do things you don't like, and I can see how that might grate, but this isn't political, it's just something we're doing to try and lower the rate of transmission, which simultaneously lets people do more things and lets the economy try to recover, step by step. So grit your teeth and bear it as best you can. It's in a good cause. For me, that's the greater good. For you, maybe it's your family or the fixing of the economy. Either way, I think you have some tough work ahead of you.

163, 25% was an example, but, masks have been shown to be at least 25% effective. Also again, emunity through infection isn't definately proven to occur, or even if it does, that it lasts for any reasonable amount of time.

@Accman: Lobbying. That's all it is. Pearson and McGraw Hill are playing this same game (McGraw Hill is getting surprisingly better on an accessibility front) but e-learning conglomerates are all about exploitation. AT least the big ones. Online textbooks exist not entirely out of the goodness of their heart, or out of convenience (though there is some convenience to be had). They exist to thwart the used book market. You know, so that people could buy their books at actually reasonable prices? THese behemoths were having none of that, so along came the access code, and the requirement of it for success in the course. ANd then the book prices remain just as conventional as ever, at $125 or more a piece. Microsoft/CompTIA/whatever probably get a lot of incentive for using Pearson for their certification exam platform rather than making their own damn platform, and it cuts costs. I will grant you that, outsourcing is definitely a problem that needs to be taken care of. Legitimately.

Ironcross, having done the whole band thing more than once, I can tell you that yeah, it's pretty hot. Depending on how you're dressed, it's hot on stage. Hell, even people who wear casual, lighter apparel often find themselves sweating like mad. That comes more from the lights and perhaps from the nervousness of playing in front of a crowd.
My angle on this is that wearing a mask is probably no more difficult than, say, wearing a button-down shirt instead of a T-shirt for a gig because of your clientele's tastes or because of the occasion. In fact, it's probably even -less difficult than that. The only big exception to this, IMO, would be if you are primarily a singer. Other than that, a mask is just one more piece of annoying kit you bring with you on stage. No, it's not fun, but I, for instance, would have no problem drumming for an hour onstage if I had to wear a mask. Ditto playing the piano. Would it be a little hot and uncomfortable? Sure it would. But I could still do it, and if it was either do that or get nowhere, I'd do it in a heartbeat, particularly if music was my chosen career and it was very dear to my heart.

@165
‘Turning someone away when they have all the skills you require is not a bright move, virus or no virus, mask or no mask’
IMHO, it doesn't matter if you're going to be the best employee in there, It won't be worth the chance of infecting people around you if you're gonna work with other people in a somewhat close space
or  even getting infected yourself, if someone else was not wearing a mask.
I admit I haven't done much research about masks lowering the chance of getting covid, but IMO, i would wear one anyway, even if I believe it does nothing, if I were to go outside.
At least I tried.