{"id":164327,"date":"2021-01-27T20:13:10","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T17:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/pushed-by-pandemic-germany-seeks-to-boost-technology-use\/"},"modified":"2021-01-27T20:13:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T17:13:10","slug":"pushed-by-pandemic-germany-seeks-to-boost-technology-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/pushed-by-pandemic-germany-seeks-to-boost-technology-use\/","title":{"rendered":"#Pushed by pandemic, Germany seeks to boost technology use"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Pushed by pandemic, Germany seeks to boost technology<\/a> use<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n In this Friday, March 13, 2020 file photo the slogan ‘It’s Corona Time’ is written on the chalkboard of an empty classroom of a high school in Frankfurt, Germany. The German government on Wednesday agreed on a strategy to boost the use of data for commercial purposes and signed a deal with state education authorities to fund laptops for teachers who have to work from home because of the virus lockdown. (AP Photo\/Michael Probst, file)
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The German government on Wednesday agreed on a strategy to boost the use of data for commercial purposes and signed a deal with state education authorities to fund laptops for teachers who have to work from home because of the virus lockdown.<\/p>\n

The measures are part of a drive to boost digitalization in a country that has fallen behind many of its peers due in part to concerns about privacy and data protection.<\/p>\n

Officials in the country often refuse to communicate with citizens by email, but Germans were nevertheless surprised to learn last year that many labs were still transmitting coronavirus test results by fax.<\/p>\n

Hesitant about accessing their personal data, some authorities in Lower Saxony state recently sent vouchers for free masks for the elderly to people based on how old-fashioned their names were\u2014prompting amusement from parents of toddlers called Fritz or Helga who had received the vouchers.<\/p>\n

Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged the country’s digital shortcomings this week, telling participants in a virtual meeting of the annual World Economic Forum that Germany “didn’t look good” when it came to linking up the country’s over 400 regional health agencies, or in the use of IT for distance learning.<\/p>\n

“We need to get better and faster here,” she said Tuesday. “We know we have to catch up.”<\/p>\n