France's virus tracing app ready to go, parliament to vote

 French lawmakers were set to vote Wednesday on wher to endorse a contact-tracing app designed to contain spre of coronavirus amid sharp debate over privacy concerns.

If approved, France's StopCovid app will be me available to users on a voluntary basis starting Monday. government committed to horing result of n-binding parliamentary vote.

French privacy watchdog CNIL backed app this week, stating techlogy “won’t le to creating a list of infected people but only a list of contacts using pseudonymous data. It does respect concept of data protection.”

app uses Bluetooth signals on mobile phones to trace individuals that people infected with virus h contact with and informs m of potential exposure so y can self-isolate. It will store anymous data in a government-run centralized database for 14 days before erasing it.

government says app doesn't involve location tracking and it guaranteed privacy of users, but rights vocacy groups have raised concerns over issue.

A public ncy that monitors respecting of human rights in France, National Consultative Commission for Human Rights, said in a statement Tuesday that app “affects in a disproportionate manner rights and freedoms of all citizens.”

An vocacy group for internet users’ rights, La Qurature du Net, said that “deploying an app whose objectives, techlogy and us carry significant risks for our society and our freedoms, for likely mediocre results (possibly even counter-productive ones), is t something we can consider acceptable."

Initially meant to accompany lifting of restrictions starting on May 11, app's release was delayed due to technical issues.

junior minister in charge of digital ecomy, Cedric O, said app was tested on 100 smartphones representing 17 brands and will be available to work with Google and Apple’s operating systems.

“It’s working well and doesn’t drain battery,” he said.

European countries have chosen different approaches to developing ir own tracing apps as part of ir strategies to prevent a second wave of virus cases after national lockdowns end.

Germany, Italy, Austria, Estonia, Switzerland, and Ireland have embraced a decentralized system, widely considered by privacy experts as better because because data is kept on devices only.

France and U.K. decided inste to send data to a central server, arguing this would help m react more quickly and aid decision-making.

French government refused to use techlogy for pandemic apps released last week by Google and Apple, saying it lacked sufficient data privacy guarantees.

“ government believes that health protection of French is an exclusive mission for state and t for private international actors,” it said in a statement.

France, one of world’s hardest-hit countries, has reported at least 28,530 coronavirus-related deaths.