Corona warning app: Google and Apple take an important step - this is how contact with infected people is to be recognized

Data protection experts had considerable concerns about the corona tracing app. The federal government is now favoring a decentralized approach. An FDP politician is now expressing criticism. 

• In view of the corona virus pandemic * , governments are also using  apps as a countermeasure.
• A point of contention is the location of the user data . 
• The federal government now favors a decentralized approach.
• The basic facts about the coronavirus * and the corona news from Germany * can be found here. Our map *  shows the current number of cases in Germany.

Update April 29, 19:38:  Google and Apple provide a first pre - version of its interface for the planned Corona - warning - Apps ready. Access to this will be given to selected app developers who work with health authorities, the US companies announced on Wednesday.

Google will release the beta version of the interfaces on its Google Play platform on Wednesday. Among other things, Apple has released a preliminary version of the iOS software with which the warning system should already work.

In the Apple and Google concept, the distance between smartphones is to be measured based on the Bluetooth signal strength. The smartphones are also Bluetooth crypto - key exchange, which change every 10 to 20 minutes. This should enable you to understand encounters without an individual being traceable. The comparison with keys of infected persons should only take place on the individual devices.

Update of April 29, 2:36 p.m .: Manuel Höferlein (FDP) , chairman of the Bundestag's digital committee, expressed clear criticism of the German government before a special session of the committee. "With the Corona app, the federal government is once again running mercilessly behind a digital project, " complained Höferlin. The members of the committee want to know from Minister of State Dorothee Bär (CSU) this Wednesday how the project will continue. 

The chairman further criticized that the government's unclear stance on a specific storage model allowed more valuable time to pass . After having decided on a decentralized model, Bär had to present a concrete schedule, Höferlein demanded. 

Corona tracing app of the federal government: FDP politicians would have commissioned start-ups

Now that the federal government has announced that it wants to develop the app together with Telekom and SAP , the question arises as to “why is it once again leaving out our innovative and agile start-up scene ,” Höferlin continued. After all, some start-ups had been working flat out on a finished solution for weeks - and mostly free of charge.

In the meantime, Telekom and SAP are being offered support in developing the corona tracing app . The international initiative , under the name h worked out a concept for a Corona-warning app PEPP PT at will, their know-how now the two companies commissioned by the federal government provide . The group of scientists, entrepreneurs and developers announced on Wednesday. 

In the past few weeks, a huge effort has been made to develop a European software architecture for country-specific corona contact tracing apps. "We continue to make our findings, test results and technical components available to everyone," the initiative said. 

Further easing in the Corona crisis is under discussion. A plan for opening the daycare center has now been drawn up. *

Corona tracing app of the federal government: Telekom and SAP should develop it

Update from April 28, 3:56 p.m .:  According to the German government, the planned Corona app for the fight against the spread of infections is to be developed by Telekom and SAP and brought to market maturity. The basis is to be a " decentralized software architecture ", as the ministries for health, home affairs and the chancellery announced on Tuesday. The app's core task is to inform citizens as quickly as possible after contact with a person infected with corona.

This enables the victims to be isolated in a timely manner, and infection chains are broken. After completion by Telekom and SAP, the Corona app is to be released by the Robert Koch Institute . In a second stage, it is also planned to set up a research server that can use pseudonymized data for quality-assuring analysis of the Corona app based on voluntary data donations by the users.

Corona tracing app of the federal government: Decentralized data storage is well received by experts

Update of April 28, 12:03 p.m .: Ulrich Kelber , the federal data protection officer , is satisfied with the decision of the federal government to only save the data in the planned tracing app for the corona pandemic . This model is “the better for data protection reasons,” he said on Tuesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. Kelber emphasized that data protection is not in the way of health protection. It is important to break the corona infection chains, the app should help. 

Update from April 27: The health expert  Karl Lauterbach (SPD) welcomes the decision of the federal government to save the data of the Corona warning app locally. This was now inevitable, because otherwise the discussion about  data protection would have destroyed acceptance before it was finished, said LauterbachPassauer Neue Presse . 

Meanwhile, it is unclear when the

Corona tracing app

can start. Federal Minister of Health

Jens Spahn (CDU)

assumes that the development could take weeks. But you want to go the path "as quickly as possible, but also as safely as possible," said Spahn den

daily topics

(ARD). 

On April 30, further discussions by the federal and state governments with Chancellor Merkel on corona loosening are pending. *

Corona app: Federal government favors decentralized storage

First report from April 26 : Berlin - For weeks there has been a debate about a Corona warning app , a main point of controversy is: Where is the data stored? The federal government has now switched to decentralized storage of user data. The Chancellor's Office head Helge Braun and Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (both CDU) confirmed in Berlin on Sunday. 

The broadest possible use of a warning app could make it easier to track corona infection chains - also because targeted contacts would then be tested.

Data protection officers had previously warned against central storage of the data:

The use u. the talks were worth it! On the open letter from D64, @chaosupdates, @loadev, @FIfF_de, @informatikradar u. @DS_Stiftung answers Federal Minister @jensspahn as follows. It is good that the federal government wants to follow the decentralized # CoronaApp approach. pic.twitter.com/g51sEzytKm

Corona warning app: Spahn (CDU) - "Voluntary and compliant with data protection"

"As the federal government, we are pursuing an approach that is based on voluntariness, is compliant with data protection and guarantees a high level of IT security when developing a tracing app," emphasized Braun and Spahn. 

The main goal from an epidemiological * perspective is to identify and interrupt infection chains * as early as possible. The government had the goal that, in view of the openings that had already taken place after the extensive contact restrictions *, the tracing app would be ready for use very soon and would find broad acceptance.

With the corona tracing app, the user data should be stored decentrally. (Icon image)

© dpa / Federico Gambarini

Corona measures: Tracing app should be available "shortly"

The use of the app by as large a section of the population as possible is the basis of their success, the two CDU politicians explained. "To achieve this goal, the federal government is relying on a decentralized software architecture that uses the programming interfaces of the major providers of mobile operating systems that will be available shortly and at the same time integrates epidemiological quality assurance in the best possible way. 

The statement went on to say: “Specifically, this means that we will  push ahead with the use of a consistently decentralized software architecture for use in Germany * . This should also integrate the possibility that citizens can voluntarily transmit data on epidemiological research and quality assurance to the Robert Koch Institute in a pseudonymized form. ”

SPD politician Kevin Kühnert could not resist a smug tip against Adidas in a podcast.

The corona virus broke out in a Munich fashion company. 61 employees have already been tested positively and a number of tests are still pending.

dpa / AFP / frs

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

Rubric list image: © dpa / Scott Barbour