German crown warning app receives registration function for events and shops

Analysis

The German Crown app is getting a feature that we are (still waiting for) in Switzerland

A major update is planned for the German Covid app. The most important innovation is the anonymous registration via QR code. This also increases the pressure on the Federal Office of Public Health to launch something similar.

What happened?

The German crown warning app has a logging feature that is meant to automatically warn visitors of an event and thus fight so-called crown groups more quickly. This should work simply and safely by scanning QR codes with the mobile phone.

At Watson’s request, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) confirmed Thursday that they are currently working on an event log in the Corona warning app. The goal:

The registration function is not yet available. It should be delivered with version 2.0 of the application, which is under development. Information about the new feature was recently found on the Corona Warning app website on Github.

How does it work?

What we know: When entering a restaurant or attending an event, users of the app scan a QR code with their smartphone (or the Corona warning app). This way, they can be warned via the app at a later time if an infected person was in the same location.

Watson asked the editor of the German app, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Wolfgang Scheida from the press office explains:

Watson’s research shows: The creators of the German Crown warning app trust their own solution and not the Swiss one. CrowdNotifier-Protocol.

This was developed by the makers of SwissCovid and has been tested in a pilot test at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) since January. In the form of the Notify Me app, which is available for iPhone and Android smartphones in app stores.

As is well known, the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG), the publisher of the SwissCovid app, has not yet decided to integrate such a registry function. The needs of the cantons are still being clarified.

The CrowdNotifier protocol stipulates that organizers create a second QR code for each event they don’t post. This second code can be used to trigger the visitor alert later, so a period of time can be defined. This means that only visitors who were on the site during the period in question receive a warning.

The German warning app should work similarly.

What is important from the Swiss point of view?

When neighboring countries like Germany update their Corona warning app with new features, it increases public pressure on BAG to do the same with SwissCovid.

The recording function will become increasingly important in the course of the expected relaxation. As more people gather at events and other venues, the risk of superprocessor events increases. So one highly contagious person infects many other participants.

The larger the event, the more time consuming conventional phone contact follow-up. And the longer it takes to warn all potentially infected visitors. Experts hope that the check-in function will speed up the process, because the warnings are sent automatically to all those potentially affected.

The good news:

According to media reports on Friday, the Swiss ambassador to Germany said the two apps should be linked to each other, presumably as of Easter. In Berlin, Paul Seger spoke of an “effective contribution” to protecting the health of cross-border travelers and the population on both sides of the Rhine and Lake Constance.

At Watson’s request, the BAG did not want to disclose how far negotiations have progressed with other countries (particularly Italy / Austria). No information is provided on the content of the ongoing bilateral talks.

What about sensitive personal data?

The RKI spokesperson assures:

The question of technical implementation remains. Details are not yet known, apart from information publicly available on Github.

Does this replace paper contact lists?

Do not.

Users of the German Crown warning application can voluntarily “donate” the data stored in the application to the RKI. In the basic configuration, however, no personal data is recorded or transmitted to the health authorities.

In this regard, the QR code feature in the Corona warning app does not replace the mandatory recording of names and contact details via guest and attendance lists, Watson’s media partner T-Online states in a report. current. Organizers, local operators and sports clubs are legally obliged to provide such lists.

In Switzerland, similar provisions apply to registering visitors by name. The creators of the NotifyMe app, a cooperation between EPFL University of Technology and Ubique company, state:

What does this have to do with the Luca app?

In recent weeks, the Luca app, supported by prominent artist Smudo (“Die Fantastischen Vier”), has made headlines in Germany. It is just one of the many registration applications that are already available that are designed to eliminate the need to manually enter contact details.

They all have a fundamental disadvantage compared to Corona’s warning apps: users cannot remain anonymous, but instead log in with their name, phone number, and contact details. According to the providers, this data is stored in an encrypted form and can only be seen by health authorities. But this has drawn criticism from IT experts and data protectionists.

There is also a practical reason that speaks in favor of the decentralized approach: German internet entrepreneur Ralf Rottmann thundered on Tuesday about the logging function planned for the Corona warning app and in a longer Twitter thread explains why it makes sense to “track meetings anonymously.” Unlike centralized log apps like Luca, health authorities didn’t threaten to overload them with (too many) reports.

It is not yet clear to what extent the planned update of the Corona warning app will affect the plans of several federal states to introduce the Luca app, according to reports.

Data protection advocates have long favored an anonymous solution similar to the CrowdNotifier protocol used in the NotifyMe app, notes heise.de.

Will the FOPH recommend a registration app?

Will there be an official recommendation for third-party billing apps in Switzerland? Watson posed this question to the Federal Office of Public Health in early March.

SwissCovid spokesperson response:

The SwissCovid app has regained popularity in recent days. The number of active users has risen to 1.75 million, as the federal government indicates online. The app, which is available for Android smartphones and iPhones, has been downloaded nearly 3 million times.

The RKI does not have data on the number of active users of the German Crown warning app. More recently, more than 26.2 million downloads were recorded, it is said.

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