https://tech.newstatesman.com/security/european-coronavirus-contact-tracing-app-sparks-uproar-in-the-privacy-community

The European Commission has called for a pan-European approach to contact tracing apps that track the spread of coronavirus across borders. But what form such technology could take has stoked intense debate in the continent’s privacy community. 

A prominent European tech initiative, the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), is developing technology that can be used to build contact tracing apps that use Bluetooth. The European Commission endorsed PEPP-PT’s framework in its guidelines for member states on adopting coronavirus tracking technology, as an initiative that “intends to support the development of national initiatives that pursue a fully privacy-preserving approach by providing ready-to-use, well-tested, and validated modules and tools”. Today it was reported that Italy plans to roll out an app from tech startup Bending Spoons, part of the PEPP-PT initiative. Another member of PEPP-PT is Christophe Fraser, Professor at the Nuffield Department of Medicine at University of Oxford, who has also been involved with working on the NHSX app in the UK.