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Lasse Schultebraucks
Lasse Schultebraucks

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German Corona warning app GitHub repo got published

The aim of the Corona warning app is to recognize and break through SARS-CoV-2 infection chains as quickly as possible. Users should be reliably and quickly informed about encounters with infected users of the app and thus possible transmissions of the virus so that they can voluntarily isolate themselves in order to help contain the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation

From the README:

"The German government has asked SAP and Deutsche Telekom to develop the Corona-Warn-App for Germany as open source software. Deutsche Telekom is providing the network and mobile technology and will operate and run the backend for the app in a safe, scalable and stable manner. SAP is responsible for the app development, its framework and the underlying platform. Therefore, development teams of SAP and Deutsche Telekom are contributing to this project. At the same time our commitment to open source means that we are enabling -in fact encouraging- all interested parties to contribute and become part of its developer community."

...

Update: the backend got published.

As a german citizen its very interesting to me, also because it is a controversial discussed topic.

What do you think of such apps?

Do you have similar projects in your countries?

Top comments (4)

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fennecdjay profile image
Jérémie Astor

I think every code/device from governements should be open-sourced, as that encourages both better code quality and respect of xxx (be it privacy, rights...).
It's nice they release it. Do they plan to show the code?

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lschultebraucks profile image
Lasse Schultebraucks

Yes. I don't know when but they will. I heard the app should launch in June, so I expect to see code in the next week's.

Yeah transparency is key. If there is no trust in the app, nobody will use it. The germans are general speaking very sceptic in terms of data privacy.

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lschultebraucks profile image
Lasse Schultebraucks

Update: the backend got published.

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zakwillis profile image
zakwillis

Hi there. It's a disgrace. The main reason is the data doesn't indicate a pandemic. Look at the charts for a simple example - presented cumulatively. This fools normal people who don't understand what cumulative means. It would be like showing a savings account cumulatively but there being no money in there.

We have all kinds of orwellian nonsense and draconian laws in the UK. We, as developers need to allow users to benefit from these kinds of approaches without there being fear of recriminations.
If we can make technology more secure, more usable to these tracking solutions then this is where our efforts should be.
My website, for example. Encrypts email addresses and never asks for passwords. I even encourage people to set up their own domains.

Anyway. Thanks for posting this.