PEPP-PT (Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing)

2020: PEPP-PT creation

On April 2, 2020 it became known that the group of the European scientists and specialists in the field of digital technologies under the leadership of experts of Institute of Fraunhofer in telecommunications (Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute for telecoms, HHI) in Germany work on technology of tracking of close contacts with infected with COVID-19 which is not breaking laws of the European Union on data protection.

The Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing project (PEPP-PT) is the answer of specialists to the growing demand from the authorities for these locations of users. However, unlike other applications for tracking of possible contacts with the infected people, PEPP-PT uses approach, "completely saving confidentiality", specialists assure.

The idea consists in use of smartphones for prevention of the following wave of infections with a coronavirus. The users who were closely contacting to the infected person will receive warnings through a proxy of the smartphones which are rather closely to each other for interface on Bluetooth. However authors of the project intend to use the best efforts not to allow use in the EU of the Chinese scenario when the authorities monitor location of each citizen via his smartphone.

In Europe there will be no uniform application for tracking of spread of a coronavirus. Already for the beginning of April, 2020 of such applications is a little. Authors of PEPP-PT offer the governments of the countries and developers a set of "standards, technologies and services" and also the standardized approach to tracking of contacts with infected with COVID-19 across all EU.

PEPP-PR completely corresponds to stringent European laws and the principles of privacy protection of data. The idea consists in making technology available as it is possible for the bigger number of the countries, heads of services of response to infectious diseases and developers. The technical mechanisms and standards provided to PEPP-PT completely protect confidentiality of users and at the same time use possibilities of digital technologies for maximizing speed and opportunities of response of the authorities to a pandemic, - authors of the project[1] explained[2].

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