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193 lines
7.1 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2020-11-12">
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<version>2</version>
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<head>
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<title>How (not) to set up a public warning system</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>How (not) to set up a public warning system</h1>
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<p>
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What is the best way to alert people about catastrophes? Germany went
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with proprietary apps which caused the recent warning day ("Warntag")
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to become an official failure. We analysed the situation and found
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more robust solutions that respect user rights.
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</p>
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<p>
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The basic idea of testing emergency systems is to find potential or
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real problems. However, it is remarkable how much went wrong in
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Germany's official warning day in September. Especially the <a
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href="https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-nationwide-emergency-warning-day-sees-bumpy-rollout/a-54877137">unreliability</a>
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of the officially advertised non-free and non-standard apps forced
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the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), that is in charge of the
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responsible Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster
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Assistance (BBK), to label the test day as a failure.
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</p>
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<p>
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The FSFE analysed the findings together with experts in civil
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protection and mobile networking to figure out why the apps failed,
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and what a more resilient and open system can look like.
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img
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src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/8a77a3fbd5eb790cf94b2f115f6f94f3.jpg"
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alt="A red emergency phone" />
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</figure>
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<h2>Digital Warning Systems in Germany</h2>
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<p>
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There are three popular publicly financed apps that can carry
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official emergency alerts to their users: Katwarn, Nina, and Biwapp.
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All three are proprietary, so non-free
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software that does not allow their users to use, study, share, and
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improve the software. Moreover, they rely on fetching emergency alerts
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from the central <em>MoWaS</em> ("modular warning system"), and forwarding
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these to the app users using their phones' WiFi or mobile internet
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connection.
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</p>
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<p>
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An overload of this central system was the main reason why many
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alerts did not reach the app users in time or at all. This did not
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come as a surprise, though. In a scenario where millions of devices
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are reached at the same time from a central instance with
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one-to-one (<em>unicast</em>) connections, network bottlenecks are
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almost inevitable.
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</p>
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<p>
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The underlying problem, however, is unnecessary complexity and duplicated
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structures. Instead of investing large amounts of public money into
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centralised systems and three proprietary apps, other states run a
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more resilient and well-tested infrastructure for distributing
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emergency messages: SMSCB, more commonly called <em>cell
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broadcasts</em>, to provide one-to-many messages.
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</p>
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<h2>Cell Broadcasts</h2>
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<p>
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Standardised around 1990, cell broadcasts are an established method to
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send messages to all mobile network users, either in a whole country
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or limited to specific areas, in no more than a few seconds. Phones do
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not have to be registered in a specific network to receive these
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messages, and alerts with the highest priority will ring an
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alarm even if the phone is muted. And unlike SMS and mobile internet, cell
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broadcasts have a reserved channel that works even if phone cells are
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overloaded with users and messages.
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</p>
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<p>
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Furthermore, cell broadcasts can be received by every phone, no
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matter whether emergency apps, an up-to-date operating system, or
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proprietary Google/Apple services are installed. Because the
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communication is one-to-many, there are no privacy concerns either.
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These clear benefits made the European Union decide to base the <a
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href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU-Alert">EU-Alert</a> system on
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cell broadcasts. As a directive, this has to be implemented by all EU
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member states before June 2022, unless a state can provide a service
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with a similarily reliable performance – which is a very high
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threshold.
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</p>
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<p>
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Regardless of these advantages, Germany chose to not base its
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emergency alert system on the SMSBC standard, unlike other countries
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such as the Netherlands, Greece, Romania, Italy, or the USA. Because
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there is no official obligation to do so, most mobile network
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providers deactivated this feature to save costs. Instead, much
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higher costs are incurred by the taxpayers to finance an isolated
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system and accompanying proprietary apps.
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img
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src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/big/f790c7602451468f95091e50dc7988d1.jpg"
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alt="EU-Alert/NL-Alert Cell Broadcast message" />
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<figcaption>EU-Alert/NL-Alert Cell Broadcast message in 2018.
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CC-BY-SA-4.0 by WarningMessageDelivery</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<h2>Warning Apps</h2>
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<p>
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Despite the clear advantages of cell broadcasts, warning apps have
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their justification. Users can request various information about
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other regions and past events. However, basing a
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large part of the emergency communication system on warning apps has proven to be
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too prone to single points of failure.
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</p>
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<p>
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Furthermore, because of the critical role of emergency communication systems for the public, they have
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to be <a href="/freesoftware/">Free Software</a>, and built upon <a
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href="/freesoftware/standards/">Open Standards</a>. Only with the
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freedoms to use, study, share, and improve software, can they be
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analysed by citizens and independent security researchers. This in
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turn increases trust and willingness to install a complementary
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warning app, as the practical experience with the Corona tracing apps
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shows.
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</p>
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<h2>Conclusion</h2>
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<p>
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Our analysis concludes with three key findings that not only the
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responsible administrations but also other actors should keep in
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mind.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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The foundation of emergency communication from authorities
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should be a standardised, resilient system that
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is capable of sending millions of messages to as many devices as
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possible, regardless of their operating system or installed
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software. Currently, SMSBC, or cell broadcasts, seem to be the best
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possible implementation that works well in numerous states.
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Therefore, we appreciate that the EU chose to base EU-Alert on cell
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broadcasts.
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</li>
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<li>
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Warning apps can be a useful complement. Especially for publicly
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funded apps, it is crucial to develop and release the software under a
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Free Software license, following the principle of <a
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href="https://publiccode.eu">Public Money? Public Code!</a>.
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</li>
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<li>
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Testing warning systems is important, and the planned regular warning days
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should be maintained in the future. It is normal that errors occur
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during these tests, but they must not be glossed over. Instead
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errors must be addressed thoroughly.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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In this sense, the responsible administrations, BBK and BMI, have a lot of work
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ahead. But it is doable, both from the practical and financial
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perspectives.
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</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="de">Germany</tag>
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<tag key="fya">Android</tag>
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<tag key="pmpc">Public Code</tag>
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</tags>
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<discussion href="https://community.fsfe.org/t/538"/>
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<image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/7a0203c58e6e11e841072693a1a91eeb.jpg"/>
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</html>
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