Concerns about privacy: charging the Corona, the App automatically on the phone?

Statement

With an Update of the operating system, the new Corona will be played automatically on the Smartphone. The user should therefore disable the function “Automatic Updates”.

Rating

This is not the case with the Corona-App of the Federal government. You will need to be downloaded after launch.

Google and Apple work in parallel to support the keep Track of contacts, to curb the pandemic, technically.

This technology is playing via Software Update on the devices, must be released by the user, but only active.

Facts

In the statement, the Coronavirus, the App will be automatically installed on the phone, were apparently mixed two different concepts together.

The Federal government wants to publish an App that needs to install the users themselves. In Parallel, Google and Apple want to support the health authorities to identify the chain of Infection by creating a technical Basis for this.

The Corona-Warning App in Germany for the Google Android operating system and the iPhone operating system, Apple’s iOS is expected to be published in may by the Robert Koch Institute in the App Stores.

You will use the modern variant of the wireless technology, Bluetooth (Low Energy) to capture in the most privacy-friendly variant of the one to whom a user met in the past 14 days.

Google and Apple want to support the Corona-Warning Apps in two stages. First, the two companies will provide, starting in may programming interfaces (APIs) to publish, in order to facilitate the creation of such an App.

This is to ensure, among other things, that the Warning of the Apps work properly when you run in the Background.

Also, do not want to take care of the corporations technically that of the battery of a smartphone is activated Warning the App gives up to fast. These Updates of operating systems are expected in mid-may.

The iPhone 75 percent of the devices are estimated to already have the latest Version iOS 13, which are supplied with the first Corona Update.

Google will update about the so-called Google Play Services, so that devices will get Android 6.0 (“Marshmallow”), the new interfaces, which can be addressed by the RKI, application, or other Corona-Warning Apps.

The user installed no Warning to the App, there is no contact tracing (“Tracing”). The interfaces may not be used, according to Apple and Google from any App, but only from the applications of the health authorities.

Months later, functions to contact to follow-up directly in the Smartphone operating systems Android and iOS via an Update installed.

How will that look like in Detail is still to be determined. Google and Apple emphasize, however, that the participation in the “Tracing” will be voluntary and by informed consent enabled.

Experts warn to disable the Automatic Updates in the operating system. The updates, which are also normally closed, a number of security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cyber criminals.

The user should make especially if you have a Smartphone, that may not be on a current Version of the operating system updated.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)

*The contribution of “concerns about data protection: charging the Corona, the App automatically on the phone?” is published by FitForFun. Contact with the executives here.