176 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
176 lines
6.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2020-12-08">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>German Corona tracing app available without Google services</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>German Corona tracing app available without Google services</h1>
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<p>
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A handful of Free Software developers today achieved what official
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bodies have been missing for months: They have made available the
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German Corona Warn App for tracing Covid-19 risk contacts in a
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version that is completely free of dependencies on Google and
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available in F-Droid, the Free Software app store.
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</p>
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<p>
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Already in April this year, the FSFE <a
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href="/news/2020/news-20200402-02.html">formulated two fundamental
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requirements for so-called Corona apps</a>. First, there must be no
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obligation to use them, and second, they must be available as Free
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Software. At first glance, the German <em>Corona Warn App</em> (CWA),
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published in June, meets these criteria, like many others in Europe
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by now. However, the exchange of device keys via Bluetooth, on the
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basis of which the risk is calculated, is handled by an underlying
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interface.
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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/4c841b6189a6d77a8061a94ee30b6d1b.jpg"
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alt="Screenshot of Corona Warn App" />
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</figure>
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<p>
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The problem is that this interface software, called <em>Exposure
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Notifications API</em> and significantly developed by Apple and
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Google, is largely proprietary. This means it cannot be freely used,
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investigated, distributed and improved. In Google's Android operating
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system it is also necessary to install and use the Play Services.
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These Google services intervene deeply in the system and undermine
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the digital sovereignty of the users. By default, this prevents the
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use of many Corona apps for people who value <a
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href="/activities/android/">privacy and software freedom on their
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Android devices</a>.
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</p>
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<h2>Volunteers solve problems step by step</h2>
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<p>
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A first major improvement was provided by Free Software developer and
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FSFE supporter Marvin Wißfeld in September. He <a
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href="https://mastodon.social/@larma/104630652216622243">built the
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exposure notification functionality into microG</a>, a Free Software
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implementation of the proprietary Google services. This allows at
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least people who own a <a href="/activities/android/">Google-free
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Android phone</a> and have microG installed to use various Corona
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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/medium/35a91da85f747e4c4621ce5e8e336b73.png"
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alt="Screenshot of microG's Exposure Notification API" />
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<figcaption>
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Free Software implementation of the underlying Exposure
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Notification API in microG
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>
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A few days ago, Christian Grigis, Fynn Godau, Marcus Hoffmann and
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Marvin Wißfeld went one step further. They <a
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href="https://codeberg.org/corona-contact-tracing-germany/cwa-android">integrated
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the exposure notification component of microG directly into the
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German Corona Warn App</a>. This so-called Drop-In-Replacement
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enables even people who have neither the Google services nor their
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Free Software alternative microG installed, to use the CWA. In
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addition, as of today they are <a
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href="https://f-droid.org/packages/de.corona.tracing/">making the app
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available on F-Droid</a>, an app store with exclusively Free
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Software. This is therefore also advantageous for those users who
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have installed microG or Google services but prefer to obtain their
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software via F-Droid for security and convenience reasons.
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</p>
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<p>
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microG main developer and FSFE supporter Marvin Wißfeld adds:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>
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"The previous solution of installing microG is often out of the
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question for various reasons. But the new app from F-Droid,can also
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be run without problems on all current smartphones from, for
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example, Huawei some of which have been delivered without Google
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services since mid-2019. The German government and the RKI may have
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lost thousands of users of the Corona Warn App in recent months,
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as only Google and Apple users were targeted."
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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It is now up to the responsible bodies, the German government, the
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Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and their contractors SAP and T-Systems,
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to <a
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href="https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-app-android/issues/1483#issuecomment-734491614">incorporate
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the changes into the main development branch</a>, and thus to pull
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together with the Free Software community. In addition, this method
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can in principle be used for Corona apps in other countries.
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</p>
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<h2>Free Software once again in a pioneering role</h2>
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<p>
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We see a familiar pattern here: the Free Software community <a
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href="https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/issues/5">presents
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a problem and a possible solution</a>, but is <a
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href="https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/issues/5#issuecomment-627848335">turned
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away</a> until volunteers solve the problem themselves with unpaid
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work and without official support. In this case, the resources of the
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authorties and companies involved would have easily sufficed to make
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these significant improvements themselves, or at least to support
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them. It is laudable that the CWA was consistently developed and
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published as Free Software from the very beginning. But the process lacked the
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necessary consistency to remove technically and meanwhile unnecessary
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dependencies on proprietary software.
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</p>
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<p>
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The FSFE appeals to governments and administrations to publish
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developed software as Free Software, to break dependencies on
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Google's and Apple's app stores and instead make their apps
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installable from independent sources like F-Droid, and to renounce
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proprietary dependencies. As Wißfeld explains, the Corona Warn App
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already offers concrete additional advantages in the fight against
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the pandemic:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>
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"The free implementation has the potential - in the spirit of Free
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Software - for improvements that Google's proprietary interface
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does not allow. For example, it would be possible to display the
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time of a high risk encounter. This could - if the user voluntarily
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provides the data - help public health authorities to identify
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hotspots or clusters, or be used for statistical purposes to
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increase the effectiveness of protective measures."
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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We would like to thank all persons involved who made the use of the
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Corona App in Germany possible without having to accept any loss of
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software freedom.
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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="corona">Corona</tag>
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</tags>
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<discussion href="https://community.fsfe.org/t/552"/>
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<image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/4c841b6189a6d77a8061a94ee30b6d1b.jpg" alt="Screenshot of Corona Warn App"/>
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</html>
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