Cell phone data can help in the fight against Corona – for example, to track infection chains. The federal government has put a new law on hold for the time being. But the idea is not dead.
By Marcel Heberlein, ARD Capital Studio
Germany is looking for ways out of the shutdown. Health Minister Jens Spahn wants to present a plan for this by Easter. The use of mobile phone data could play a central role in this. “We may be faced with the question of whether we can get back certain freedoms of everyday life more easily if, at the same time, it is possible to quickly identify foci of infection, outbreaks of new chains of infection and then end them accordingly,” said Spahn.
A confidential strategy paper from the Ministry of the Interior also recommends tracking location data in the long term in order to find contact persons for infected people. Data protectors, on the other hand, are extremely critical of German plans.
So far only anonymized data used
The location data of the cell phones can already be used by the state. Up to now, Telekom and Co. have only been allowed to pass on the data anonymously and in a pile. The Robert Koch Institute was able to read from this that many people have adhered to the new rules in public life in recent weeks – specifically that Germany has moved less. The movement of individuals is currently not understandable, say the authorities.
Health Minister Spahn wants more: “The question of how we can use cell phone data like in South Korea in order to be able to understand infection chains very quickly – whether and how we want to use it in such an absolute crisis or not – I think this debate is needed “explained Spahn.
Bill stopped for the time being
The Minister of Health has already made a first legislative proposal. This should also be used to transmit personalized movement data to state authorities. But privacy advocates raised the alarm. Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht of the SPD also declined. in the Report from Berlin Lambrecht warned of a “far-reaching encroachment on civil rights”.
The Minister of Justice said: “We would have had to discuss this much more intensively with one another, we should have talked about a time limit. Who controls it? Is the consent of those affected necessary? And the most important question is: Is it even effective?”
Spahn’s idea would probably have looked like this: depending on where a cell phone user is at the moment, he dials into a certain radio cell. If the state could now see in retrospect which radio cells an infected person was in, he could also see who else was there at the same time – and thus find contact persons.
Practical feasibility questionable
So much for the theory – but even Deutsche Telekom doubts that the radio cell data can really help, because radio cells can be large. And, in shopping centers, for example, many people dial into the same radio cell at the same time. But that doesn’t mean that these people have come into personal contact with each other.
The health minister still does not want to give up. In the meantime, Spahn comes a little bit closer to his critics. He now wants to limit the tracking time and tie it to strict conditions, he told the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”.
Another solution relies on voluntariness
Another solution would be the one the Robert Koch Institute is already working on. Together with a Fraunhofer institute, an app is to be created that anonymously records movement data and can be used to track infection chains.
However, no cell phone users should be forced to use the app and feed their data. The big question with a voluntary data submission would then be: Are enough people involved that the whole thing really helps in the fight against the virus?
Support for proposals such as that of the RKI comes from Digital State Minister Dorothee Bär from the CSU. Such software on smartphones “makes sense to contain the virus in a targeted manner,” Bär told the “Handelsblatt”. From a data protection point of view, there is nothing to be said against such an app, since the user agrees to the data usage by downloading it.
“We now have to use the possibilities of digitalization to overcome the crisis,” said Bär. Vice-government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer pointed to legal hurdles for a new app: “The basic requirement for us would be voluntariness and compliance with data protection.”
