[ad_1]
Donate my data to the RKI or measure distance to others via Bluetooth: We explain how apps work and what concerns data savers have.
The smartphone as a tool against the spread of the corona virus: that’s what scientists, politicians and data protection experts are discussing. The small data collectors, which a large part of the Germans carry in their pockets anyway, should help to understand and interrupt the routes of infection. Even when exiting the crown lock, they could be a tool. “Using such apps can be a good thing and add value,” says the Bremen health department. What is important is the sensitive handling of personal data and voluntary use.
Donating data to the Robert Koch Institute
If you have an exercise bracelet or smart watch, you can become a “data donor” for the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The data collected is intended to provide scientists with information about people’s health. The app works for Apple and Android and connects to the fitness bracelet or smart watch. These measure pulse and user activity and should be worn throughout the day. According to the RKI, all devices connected through Google-Fit and Apple-Health, as well as devices from Fitbit, Garmin, Polar, and Withings / Nokia are supported.
Data is transmitted anonymously and under a pseudonym to RKI, exact locations are not transmitted. If there are abnormalities, such as an increased resting heart rate or less activity than usual, this may be an indication of a febrile infection. This is reported to the RKI and provides information on whether and how many people are currently experiencing an infection. In the future, it should also be possible to specify symptoms in the app. So if a corresponding number of people donate data, one should be able to measure fever almost regionally. The importance of the data depends on how many people use the application; the more, the more accurate the image will be. The application has been available since April 8, with 160,000 users already registered on the first day. This corresponds to two percent of the ten million users of exercise trackers in Germany.
The tracking application
While data donation is limited to users of physical activity trackers, the only requirement to use a so-called tracking app is a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. This application is intended to warn users if they have critically approached an infected person and thus interrupt the chain of infection. It works like this: the app constantly records how close you can be to other people, i.e. their cell phones with the tracking app. Distance measurement is based on the strength of the Bluetooth signal. If a user tests positive for Covid-19 and indicates this in the app, everyone who has been in their immediate vicinity according to the app’s data in the last 21 days will receive an automatic notification.
Exact location data should not be logged, only proximity to other app users. The data should be deleted after 21 days. Data protection is a major obstacle when developing this application. Chaos Computer Club has created a list of requirements that the application must meet. Among other things, “verifiable technical measures such as encryption and anonymity” should ensure the protection of user data, no motion profiles should be created. With this application also, the quality of the information depends on the number of users. Experts estimate that around 50 percent of the population would have to use the app to receive meaningful data.
Experts such as virologist Michael Drosten also see the potential for such an application to simplify the release of the crown lock. Local contagion chains could be used to impose local rather than temporary contact restrictions. When there is a lot of infection, according to the application data, stricter rules apply than when the risk is lower. According to Drosten, as many people as possible should be persuaded to use the app.
About 56.1 percent of Germans would voluntarily install a tracking app on their cell phones. This was the result of a representative survey carried out by BR24. The Civey voting institute had carried out the survey for Bavarian radio. Accordingly, 24.2 percent categorically reject said application.
So say virologists.
While Drosten is clearly in favor of such applications in the NDR podcast, Bremen-based virus researcher Andreas Dotzauer is critical of their use. He doubts the diagnostic quality of the transmitted data. “We are talking about general symptoms that can also point to completely different things,” he says with a view to transmitting resting heart rate and activity data in the data donor app. Furthermore, the data can hardly be statistically evaluated, since the user group is hardly representative of the total population and, therefore, does not allow direct conclusions to be drawn about them.
In general, a tracking application could be useful in determining contacts. In the case of an infection, it is currently difficult to trace who the infected person had contact with. However, Dotzauer doubts that Bluetooth technology reliably measures distances. You are also concerned about data protection. In statistical terms, evaluation is also problematic, since with an application used anonymously on a voluntary basis, you do not know who you are really reaching.
That’s what the privacy advocate says
For the Bremen State Data Protection Commissioner, Imke Sommer, two points are crucial for the use of such applications: transparency and volunteering. You must specify exactly what the application does, what data is collected, and where it ends. “You should look at the terms of use to see what categories of data are being sent to where,” says Sommer. With the RKI data donation application it is not very clear: an examination by the federal data protection commissioner is still pending.
I should not be forced to send my data in any way.
Imke Sommer, Data Protection Officer for the State of Bremen
The processing of data with a tracking application would be based on the consent of the user, a use would have to be based on voluntary action from the point of view of data protection. “I shouldn’t be forced to send my data in any way,” emphasizes Sommer.
No one should suffer social disadvantages if they refuse to use the application. “With this personal consent, it is important that people are not left alone with the decision,” says Sommer. She advocates extensive social discussion about Corona applications.
This topic in the program:
buten un binnen, April 14, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
