German Robert-Koch-Institute discusses mobile phone tracking to slow down the spreading of the Coronavirus
According to a news report by the German newspaper “Der Tagesspiegel”, a small group of scientists at the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) and other institutions are currently discussing the evaluation and matching of movement data from mobile phones to detect people infected with the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The scientists, who are trying to slow down the spreading of the disease, complain about the problem of the time-consuming and vague questionings of infected people on who they came in contact with. The evaluation and matching of mobile phone data may be more accurate and could speed up the process of identifying infected people, which could be essential for saving lives.
In a comment, the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection Ulrich Kelber expressed that this procedure may cause large data protection issues, especially with regards to having a legal basis for processing and the proportionality of processing according to the GDPR.