BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In the discussion about a cell phone app to contain the corona pandemic, the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV) demands clear conditions for the use of user data. “Health protection is important, but such measures must also respect the fundamental rights of those affected: the information obtained must not be used for law enforcement purposes and the storage period must be limited,” said the DAV.
IP addresses in particular should not be used for law enforcement purposes, said Eren Bazaar, who is a member of the DAV Committee on Security Law, the German Press Agency. In addition, it must be clearly regulated how long the data remains in the system. “A deletion rule including a maximum storage period is required,” he said. After the two-week incubation period and a safety buffer, further storage was not necessary. Both are important so that such an app finds support among the citizens.
As part of the European app project PEPP-PT, a tracking app is currently being developed that could be used in the fight against the corona virus. Citizens would voluntarily download them to their cell phones and notify them when they were near an infected person, without providing further details about the infected person. However, this can only work if both have the app installed on their smartphone. Location data should not be collected, only the proximity of the cell phones. These would exchange information via Bluetooth and exchange their IDs encrypted.
The DAV assumes that a “sick report” would also transmit IP addresses and that certain people could be traced. This also allows conclusions to be drawn as to whether people may have violated contact bans, the lawyers association fears. This is problematic with a view to the legal principle that nobody has to incriminate themselves./hrz/DP/zb
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