Navigation

    Cyberian
    • Register
    • Login
    • Search
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Pro Blog
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Unsolved
    • Solved

    Coronavirus: Apple and France in stand-off over contact-tracing app

    Tech News
    stand-off contact-tracing france coronavirus health
    1
    1
    19
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • A
      asma zahid last edited by

      France is pressing Apple to let its forthcoming coronavirus contact-tracing app work in the background on iPhones without building in the privacy measures the US company wants.

      The country’s digital minister confirmed the request in an interview given to Bloomberg.

      France’s system would let it glean more information about participating smartphone owners than Apple and its partner Google want to allow.

      Privacy experts view it as a test case.

      “Apple has no reason to agree to this demand and it would open the door to many other requests from other countries and entities,” Prof Olivier Blazy from the country’s University of Limoges, told BBC News.

      “As a Frenchman, I think it would be useful to avoid being dependent on the Google-Apple solution but I think it’s strange that the government strategy relies on trying to convince Apple to do something that is against its interest, with no incentive to do so.”

      Apple and Google announced on 10 April they were working together to provide a software building-block - known as an application programming interface (API) - that will let authorised Covid-19 contact-tracing apps work more efficiently.

      Contact-tracing apps work by logging every time two or more users are close to each other for a substantial period of time.

      If one device owner is subsequently diagnosed as being likely to have the virus, an alert can be sent to those they could have infected, who might be asked to self-isolate.

      By using such an app in conjunction with other measures, it would in theory be possible to end wider lockdowns and still suppress the disease, so long as enough people take part.

      Apple and Google’s method relies on using Bluetooth signals to detect matches.

      But they have deliberately designed it so neither they nor the apps’ creators can see who has been given a warning.

      The companies have said this is to guarantee “strong protections around user privacy”, which in turn should encourage adoption.

      By contrast, Inria - the French institute developing its StopCovid app - has developed a system of its own, called Robert (robust and privacy-preserving proximity tracing protocol).

      It published details about it on Sunday on the code-sharing site Github.

      Why are there doubts over contact-tracing apps?
      NHS contact-tracing app to target 80% of smartphone users
      UK confirms plan for its own contact tracing app
      

      And although the French government has promised adoption of the app will be voluntary and involve anonymised data, the document reveals there would be ways to “re-identify users or to infer their contact graphs” if desired.

      “It’s a misnomer to call it a privacy-preserving protocol,” said University of Oxford computer scientist Prof Max van Kleek, who prefers the Apple-Google design.

      "It does preserve privacy between users but not between the user and the government.

      “And that leads to the risk that the government later repurposes the system to make sure that people obey a quarantine or other kinds of things the state might want to know.”

      The problem for Inria - and other countries developing their own contact-tracing apps - is Apple currently will not allow Bluetooth-based track-and-tracing to be carried out in the background.

      So to work, the apps would have to remain active and on screen, limiting what else owners could do with their handsets and taking an extra toll on battery life.

      The developers of Singapore’s TraceTogether app attempted to get round this problem by offering a Power Save mode, which dims the display.
      Image copyright Getty Images
      Image caption Users have complained about TraceTogether’s need to run in the foreground, in App Store reviews

      But users have still complained of being unable to make calls or use other apps at the same time and having accidentally bumped the app into the background when their handset was in their pocket.

      And this has discouraged people from using it.

      “We’re asking Apple to lift the technical hurdle to allow us to develop a sovereign European health solution that will be tied to our health system,” France’s Digital Minister, Cedric O, told Bloomberg.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • First post
        Last post
      Insaf Sehat Card Live Cricket Streaming
      • A

        France gives online firms one hour to pull 'terrorist' content
        Tech News • social media youtube internet france facebook • • asma zahid

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        18
        Views

        No one has replied

      • A

        Code19: How long does it take to recover from the Corona virus?
        Health and Beauty • code 19 corona coronavirus recover long • • asma zahid

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        21
        Views

        No one has replied

      • A

        Coronavirus: False claims viewed by millions on YouTube
        Tech News • social media fake news youtube coronavirus pandemic • • asma zahid

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        33
        Views

        No one has replied

      • A

        Coronavirus: 'Plandemic' virus conspiracy video spreads across social media
        Tech News • spreads social social media coronavirus • • asma zahid

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        14
        Views

        No one has replied

      • A

        Coronavirus: How will you commute to work after lockdown?
        Tech News • coronavirus lockdown measures electric bikes and scooters coronavirus pandemic social distancing travel • • asma zahid

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        28
        Views

        No one has replied

      • A

        Coronavirus: The tech minnows changing the NHS
        Tech News • changing tech nhs minnows • • asma zahid

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        12
        Views

        No one has replied

      • zaasmi

        WHATSAPP UPDATE COULD IMPROVE CHANGE WAY APP WORKS, LATEST LEAK TRUE
        Tech News • whatsapp is whatsapp safe for kids wire software signal vs whatsapp whatsapp news service • • zaasmi

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        58
        Views

        No one has replied

      • zaasmi

        Google AdSense App to Discontinue for iOS and Android platform
        Tech News • google adsense • • zaasmi

        1
        0
        Votes
        1
        Posts
        70
        Views

        No one has replied

      100% Off on Your FEE Join US! Ask Me How?

      Quiz 100% Result If you want to know how you can join us and get 100% Discount on your FEE ask Cyberian in Chat Room!
      Quiz 100% Result Quiz 100% Result
      solution1255 discussion1206 fall 2019813 assignment 1433 assignment 2297 spring 2020265 gdb 1248 assignment 382 crw10174 spring 201955
      | |
      Copyright © 2021 Cyberian Inc. Pakistan | Contributors
      Live Chat