- Title: Boon or bane? French parliament to debate COVID-19 tracking app
- Date: 27th April 2020
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (APRIL 27, 2020) (REUTERS VIA ZOOM) (SOUNDBITE) (French) NATIONAL CONSULTATIVE COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PRESIDENT, JEAN-MARIE BURGUBURU, SAYING: "Personally and as president of the CNCDH, I'm not certain that this is useful for a number of reasons. First, we're being told that this application will be put in place in a voluntary basis. Well, is this voluntarism enlightened? I'm not sure of that. Is this voluntarism free of choice? I'm not sure of that. For example, an employer could just say, 'Sir, you do not have the app, I can't allow you to go back to work,' or a manager of an establishment saying, 'You do not have this app, I can't let you in my store."
- Embargoed: 11th May 2020 16:51
- Keywords: France StopCovid coronavirus outbreak debate mobile phone parliament personal data privacy tracking app
- Location: PARIS AND CHAMBERY, FRANCE / SINGAPORE
- City: PARIS AND CHAMBERY, FRANCE / SINGAPORE
- Country: France
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA00DCB9PPVR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: French lawmakers are slated to debate the implementation of a mobile application that would help in tracking person-to-person contact with regard to the spread of the new coronavirus, which has evoked mixed reactions in the country.
The government last week bowed to pressure from MPs and promised a parliamentary debate and vote on the "StopCovid" smartphone software, which is designed to warn users if they come into contact with infected people.
Several French companies are working on the app's development, including Chambery-based Lunabee Studios.
Lunabee co-founder Olivier Berni deemed the app a "bonus tool" in the fight against the virus. The app will function through low-energy Bluetooth and will not use geo-localisation, Berni told Reuters on Monday (April 27)
Some lawmakers across France's political divide have said the software raises serious issues about state surveillance and privacy. Civil liberties groups have raised similar questions about apps being considered and used across the world to try and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Speaking in a parliament hearing in mid-April, Digital Minister Cedric O defended the app, saying it will gather only anonymous, encrypted data and be implemented in a voluntary basis.
"There are no problems of public liberty with this application as it has been conceptualised - none," O said.
But opponents say the software could violate privacy and personal freedoms.
A group of French IT specialists also published an open letter on Sunday (April 26) warning that the Bluetooth-based app could potentially lead to "mass surveillance" by collecting data on interactions between individuals.
And the president of the National Consultative Commission for Human Rights (CNCDH), Jean-Marie Burguburu, has gone so far as to say on Monday (April 27) that the app is "dangerous" for human rights.
Burguburu said implementing the software on a voluntary basis could be too idealistic, as some employers and establishments could instate restrictions on people who choose not to install the app.
He also expressed worries that the app would be used by law enforcement for other purposes, such as singling out migrants and people who infringe on rules for other legal situations.
France is not the first in the world to discuss the implementation of a COVID-19 tracking app.
Other countries have launched similar apps to curb the spread of the outbreak, which has killed more than 23,000 in France. Singapore's TraceTogether app will work by exchanging short distance Bluetooth signals between phones to detect other participating users in close proximity of 2 metres.
Germany last weekend abandoned a "centralised" approach to smartphone contact tracing, which it had developed with France, which would have required the personal data of volunteers to be stored on a server.
In Paris, people have mixed feelings on the software, with some welcoming its implementation, while others remaining in uncertainty.
"I don't really have the information on how it works," Parisian Lena Divanach said. "I think I will decide when I have the information that will follow."
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