French privacy watchdog okays virus tracing app

PARIS: France’s privacy watchdog gave the green light Tuesday to a government-backed cellphone app that will alert users if they have been in contact with an infected person. Use of the app called StopCovid will be voluntary, and will keep track of users who had been in close proximity of one another over a two-week period. If any become infected, they inform the platform, which alerts the others. Privacy defenders have expressed fears that the app marks the first step towards a society under constant online surveillance.