The Berlin start-up Videmic has published an app of the same name for tracking corona infection chains in large crowds in the App Store and on Google Play. The mobile tracing application saves stays in busy locations in the app’s user profile and thus enables cluster recording without scanning a QR code, as is necessary with the open source solution CrowdNotifier. Locating by GPS is also not required.

Proprietary technology records encounters Virus infections mainly take place in places where there are many people. However, this is exactly where the German government’s Corona Warning App (CWA) reaches its technical limits: In order to save energy, it only “listens” for codes for relevant encounters at very generous intervals. The distance measurement via Bluetooth is also not particularly accurate. On the basis of the given parameters, a longer meeting would only lead to a low risk assessment, even in a poorly ventilated room, if the people are not sitting close together.

In contrast to the CWA, “Videmic Tracing” does not use the Interface for the Covid 19 notification system (Exposure Notification Framework) integrated by Apple and Google in iOS and Android. It uses a proprietary solution with Bluetooth and WLAN to record encounters. The network access data generated by these technologies is used to approximate the location of a user.

For this, the solution evaluates the identifiers of the WLAN hotspot and the Bluetooth MAC Address (Media Access Control). In the normal user mode, this data is only temporarily stored during a stay at an event or with a Videmic partner and then deleted.

Encounters recorded decentrally More exciting is the chargeable “channel mode”, which masters the often requested clustering. A six-digit, individual access code is required for this. In this mode, the tracing app maintains Bluetooth connections to all other nearby iPhones and Android devices on which the application is installed. Users must also have successfully logged in. In addition, the app operates a temporary WLAN access point for clustering, for example in a lecture hall or at a trade fair stand. IP addresses are only temporarily stored during data transmission.

The channel mode can currently only be activated on Android smartphones. In this case, the app sends the set nickname or the “location” to all smartphones in the vicinity to record location data via Bluetooth and the temporary WLAN access point. These store this information if a user has stayed at the location for more than five minutes. The information on the encounter between people in spatial proximity can be determined implicitly and decentrally via the mobile phones from the location data collected.

Warning via external code Similar to the approach of the CWA, the warning is issued after obtaining a Tele-TAN by publishing a code that does not contain any information that can be used by external third parties. Due to the independence of Apple and Google, the transfer of personal data can only take place via servers in Germany. Furthermore, like the CWA, the app does not save any personal data centrally, explained Videmic managing director Silvia Wallner to heise online. After 14 days, the data stored on the visitors’ smartphones would be automatically deleted.

Videmic tracing is especially for events such as film – and music festivals, trade fairs, conferences, schools and universities as well as suitable for companies, emphasizes Wallner. The app can filter out and notify people with risk encounters from the digital visitor list. This would relieve the health authorities enormously.

The company has not carried out a data protection impact assessment. For acceptance in the app stores, however, the application “went through a rigorous assessment process”, said Wallner. Aspects to safeguard the privacy of the users would have played an important role here.

Costs arise depending on the size of the event Videmic Tracing celebrated its premiere in December at the Christmas lecture at the University of Bayreuth, a hybrid event with Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD). The university used the app for location tracking and live recordings. Originally 90 people should be present in the Audimax. The number had been reduced again in view of the corona measures tightened shortly before the date, reported the head of the start-up. Over a thousand participants would have followed the lecture online with the Videmic solution and zoom.

The application is free for event visitors. Organizers can use it in advanced mode for automatic contact tracking and the production of live recordings. The costs for this depend on the size and duration of the event. Wallner did not give any details.

(tiw)