This Tuesday morning, the German government, the Robert Koch Institute and participating companies presented the German federal government’s new COVID-19 tracking app, the Corona WarnApp. eco – Association of the Internet Industry, which has actively accompanied the discussion on the development of the new app from the very beginning, advocates the use of the data protection-compliant app and hopes for broad acceptance within the German population. However, eco rejects a legal obligation to install the app.
In addition, eco Chair Oliver J. SĂĽme comments:
“As an association of the Internet industry, we support the launch of the Corona app with all our might. It will now be crucial for the success of the app to get as many citizens as possible to use it. The chances are good: The Corona app of the German federal government guarantees the highest data protection standard of all apps used so far. We therefore hope for broad social acceptance across generations and throughout Germany, without any obligation or legal obligation to install the app. If we achieve a breakthrough, digital technologies – in this case, contact tracing with the Corona app – can actually save lives and bring us back to normality.
However, the Association of the Internet Industry criticises that the app ultimately took too long to complete:
“The protracted discussions surrounding the development and introduction of the app have once again made us aware of how important it is for the German federal government to speak with one voice and pull the strings at a competent point when it comes to digital policy issues. The Corona app is thus the perfect use case for a digital ministry that the next federal government will hopefully finally set up. We must now simply hope that the tough processes in the app development process have not led to technology scepticism and a loss of trust among citizens,” SĂĽme said.
