20200526 Datenschnüffler lauern an den Hintertüren

26.05.2020 Datenschnüffler lauern an den Hintertüren

Corona App is to get us used to surveillance

The Corona app will never work and it is another piece of the puzzle that should get us used to surveillance.

This is the conclusion that can be drawn from the presentation given by the President of the Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI), Hannes Federrath, on Monday at a web talk of the association, initially about the chances of mobile applications for tracking corona infection cases.

We have already reported on the technical shortcomings in several articles. The app cannot provide security for its owner, because real distance measurements are not possible via Bluetooth. Now it has also turned out that its technical realization is probably "not so easy" after all, because the targeted date at the end of May is now over and a never ending story like the BER seems to be in the offing. This is also logical, as the interests of those who want to collect as much data as possible are incompatible with an approach that protects the private sphere.

In addition to this, one now realizes that the other apps that people use on their mobile phones are also very greedy about what additional data might be available now. The GI president had to speak of "immense" risks, culminating in the announcement that such an app is "like a Trojan horse".

For example, once the Corona data donation app published by the Robert Koch Institute is installed on the iPhone, the data transfer via Apple Health can unfortunately no longer be deactivated.

The most important thing, however, is the changes that such apps create in human interaction

the creation of an alleged safety by a technical device whose real function nobody can understand,
getting used to being watched,
the distrust of people who do not want to or cannot operate such software,
as a consequence, access rules, for example to cinemas or concerts, "subtly force" the use of the material,
discrimination in everyday life will automatically follow if not "enough participation" (~60% is expected)

In a test run of an app published by the Red Cross in Austria, 7% of the population currently participate - this can only be a pretence.

Kommentar: RE:20200526 Datenschnüffler lauern an den Hintertüren

Technology can guide governments in navigating their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, says FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty. However, like all solutions, governments need to take care that respect for fundamental rights forms part of our public health strategies. This includes maintaining privacy and data protection legal safeguards.

FRA - FRP, 29.05.2020 09:37

RE:20200526 Datenschnüffler lauern an den Hintertüren

Scientists assume that such an app is only useful if about 80% of the population use it. Since such numbers are illusory, users could be forced to participate. If afterwards it turns out that Bluetooth was activated without the app, then this is of course just a sad mistake.

An., 30.05.2020 19:02

RE:20200526 Datenschnüffler lauern an den Hintertüren

Surprise, surprise. German #Telekom and #SAP developed #Corona app to identify possible contacts, and it shows up it has issues with safety and protection of privacy. German government payed 20m and those who installed it can easily be tracked and identified by attackers. Contact informations may also be manipulated. And these are known issues in Google- and Apple-proposed specifications.
Survey was made by Technische Universität Darmstadt, Universität Marburg and Universität Würzburg. Article with more details in german https://idw-online.de/de/news749287 and in english https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.05914.

Fl., 13.06.2020 10:16