The two leading providers of smartphone operating systems,
Apple and Google, want to cooperate in the fight against the corona virus pandemic.
In order to be able to better measure the contacts between users
with the help of Bluetooth, according to the press release, both US
companies want to "bring a comprehensive solution onto the
market that includes interfaces (API) and technologies at the operating system
level". In view of the high level of urgency, it is planned to
implement this solution in two steps, while at the same time ensuring a strong
protection of user privacy.
First, both companies plan to publish APIs in May that
enable interoperability between Android and iOS devices with the help of apps
from the health authorities. The authorities could make their certified
apps available via the respective app stores.
Second, in the coming months, Google and Apple would work on
a more comprehensive Bluetooth based platform for contact measurements by
integrating the functionality in question into the underlying
platforms. Such a solution is more robust than a programming interface and
also enables the voluntary participation of far more individuals in such a
system.
Such an approach, according to the companies, supports
collaboration in a broader ecosystem of apps and health authorities. "Data
protection, transparency and voluntary participation are of the utmost
importance in this project. We look forward to building this functionality in
consultation with interested institutions," it continues. Google
and Apple were convinced that "there has never been a more important
moment to solve one of the world's most pressing problems."
Comparable to other concepts
Both companies published four PDF documents on the concept
for the API, for encryption, for the framework and for
the Bluetooth specification. With constantly changing user IDs, the
concept is already similar to other developments. The IDs
received via Bluetooth should initially be saved locally and only uploaded
after a confirmed infection of the user. The storage of location data is
not necessary.
In Europe, an app has been working for a few weeks to enable
contact measurements via Bluetooth low energy. To this end, an
international team of developers announced a new standard on April 1,
2020. The so-called Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing
(PEPP-PT) is intended to enable new chains of infection in the coronavirus
pandemic to be interrupted quickly and effectively.
The development team initially wanted to publish the code
for a corresponding program library on Github by April 7, 2020. The date
has already been moved several times. When the code is actually uploaded
is currently unclear. Should Google and Apple integrate the
functionalities into their operating systems, additional standards such as
PEPP-PT would no longer be necessary. This would only be the case for
devices whose operating system can still be updated.
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