7 votes

Germany flips to Apple-Google approach on smartphone contact tracing

8 comments

  1. [4]
    skybrian
    Link
    From the article:

    From the article:

    Germany as recently as Friday backed a centralised standard called Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), which would have needed Apple in particular to change the settings on its iPhones.

    When Apple refused to budge there was no alternative but to change course, said a senior government source.

    1 vote
    1. [3]
      vektor
      Link Parent
      Don't let the Privacy-Preserving part confuse you, far as I can tell it was anything but. Storing basically a full, pseudonymized contact graph centrally. No open-source or anything, so hard to...

      Don't let the Privacy-Preserving part confuse you, far as I can tell it was anything but. Storing basically a full, pseudonymized contact graph centrally. No open-source or anything, so hard to tell whether they even encrypt the info, or what is even being recorded.

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        babypuncher
        Link Parent
        Any suggestions on how to build effective contact tracing without that?

        Storing basically a full, pseudonymized contact graph centrally.

        Any suggestions on how to build effective contact tracing without that?

        1 vote
        1. vektor
          Link Parent
          https://tildes.net/~health.coronavirus/o82/will_you_install_the_contact_tracing_app_on_your_phone#comment-4yct Explained here. The random numbers don't leak any information about you, at all. Only...

          https://tildes.net/~health.coronavirus/o82/will_you_install_the_contact_tracing_app_on_your_phone#comment-4yct

          Explained here. The random numbers don't leak any information about you, at all.

          Only thing slightly wrong in that comment is that you can't send notifications, because you don't know who to. So instead, the provider publishes a list of those random numbers that are considered "infectious". If they publish for multiple people at once, it makes reconstructing any details of the person very hard.

          Your phone will continuously check the published numbers for any it has seen in the last two weeks and alert you in case of danger.

          2 votes
  2. [4]
    Artrax
    Link
    Apple-Google approach is a bit misleading since it implies that they provide the system. They just provide the Interface to exchange the messages that are needed for most decentralized systems,...

    Apple-Google approach is a bit misleading since it implies that they provide the system.
    They just provide the Interface to exchange the messages that are needed for most decentralized systems, the implementation and the details are still up to the government.

    1 vote
    1. [3]
      skybrian
      Link Parent
      I guess it might be misleading if you just go by the name and don't read their proposal. But I think this is expecting too much from a name?

      I guess it might be misleading if you just go by the name and don't read their proposal. But I think this is expecting too much from a name?

      1. [2]
        Artrax
        Link Parent
        Well, whats wrong with "decentralized approach"?

        Well, whats wrong with "decentralized approach"?

        1. skybrian
          Link Parent
          If you mean in the headline, I think that would be fine.

          If you mean in the headline, I think that would be fine.