No blanket permission for covid-tracking app, French lawmakers will vote on it
22 April, 2020
French lawmakers will vote in a few days on allowing contact tracing via mobile phones as the government prepares for a gradual lifting of coronavirus confinement orders from May 11.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe agreed to hold the vote, that may happen after a National Assembly debate, amid widespread worries about privacy breaches from the unprecedented data-tracking initiative for France, a parliamentary source told AFP on Tuesday.
Most MPs are in lockdown, though about 75 of them are expected to appear in person for the debates beginning next Tuesday.
France’s CNIL privacy watchdog may also weigh in on the tracking proposal, which would see cellphone users voluntarily download an application to track their movements and alert them if indeed they touch an infected person.
Health authorities say such technology, already found in some Asian countries, is required to avert a new surge in COVID-19 cases once persons are permitted to leave their homes more freely plus some schools and businesses reopen.
A study released Tuesday by France’s Pasteur Institute estimated that by May 11, only six percent of France’s population could have been exposed to the brand new coronavirus, meaning that almost all of the populace carry no immunity, and can remain vulnerable to infection.
“For collective immunity to work in avoiding another wave, we’d need to have immunisation for 70 percent of the populace. We’re well below this,” the study’s lead author, Simon Cauchemez told AFP.
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