The rapper Smudo defended the Luca app to contain the corona pandemic against allegations by network politicians from the Greens and the FDP. He has no understanding for their call to uninstall the app, the artist said on Tuesday image. “I think it’s irresponsible that a call from one or two politicians I’ve never met before could result in people deleting the Luca app in the middle of the pandemic.”
Smudo helped develop the app to enable his band and other artists to perform again during the corona pandemic. The singer has an economic stake in the operating company of the Luca app.
Erasure due to abuse
The Luca app is intended to help restaurant owners and event organizers to complete the legally required recording of visitor contacts without paperwork. The application has been the subject of public criticism for months. Criticism was recently sparked by an incident in Mainz. There, the police, together with the health department, used data from the Luca app to search for witnesses to a fatal fall in a restaurant. After that, individual politicians publicly called for the Luca app to be deleted from mobile phones and asked the federal states not to extend expiring contracts with the provider.
The actions of the authorities in Mainz had been criticized by the Luca makers themselves. According to the Infection Protection Act, no data may be retrieved from the system for the purpose of looking for witnesses or criminal prosecution, explained the operating company Culture4life.
“The actions of the police and the health department were not covered by the Infection Protection Act, which the authorities also conceded.”
No justification for Germany-wide deletion
Smudo now said to the image, the Luca app is currently helping to break infection chains every day. “If a federal state decides against it, that doesn’t justify a nationwide appeal. That’s simply irresponsible. If you’re hanging on a steep slope, you don’t throw away a rope.”
In the interview, Smudo vigorously denied speculation about plans to sell the Luca app. “I usually leave such rumors uncommented. But here I would like to say: We want to personally adapt Luca to the challenges of the pandemic. In the last few weeks alone we have made two updates with 2G-plus and Luca Connect, the health authorities and operators a whole one We want to continue along this path of innovation.”
(olb)
