Police probed over 'misuse' of Covid app

RT
Wed, 12 Jan 2022 14:45 UTC

A German regional data protection officer says police are damaging public trust in the government amid the pandemic. The officers were criticized for using a Covid app to track people.

Dieter Kugelmann, the chief data protection officer in Germany's western Rhineland-Palatinate region, launched an investigation into a "worrying" case of police collecting personal information of pub visitors through contact-tracing app Luca.

"The procedure shakes citizens' confidence in the legality of government's actions and sends a completely wrong signal, especially in times of a pandemic that is challenging society as a whole," Kugelmann said on Tuesday.

In November, police investigated the death of a man who passed away after collapsing outside a pub in Mainz. Officers decided to look for potential witnesses using the app that records the length of time spent in an establishment, the patron's full name, address, and phone number. Police contacted 21 people after extracting data from Luca.

Mainz public prosecutor's office later admitted that there was "no sufficient legal ground" for using a Covid app to fish for personal data, and apologized to those affected by the "inadmissible" move.

The app's developer, culture4fire, released a statement condemning "the misuse of data." The company added that the information gathered through the app should only be viewed by health officials.

Several politicians voiced their outrage over the police's actions. Alexander Salomon, a Green Party MP, tweeted: "Uninstall the Luca App. Immediately."

German news agency DPA reported on Tuesday that the Ministry of Justice separately requested a report from the Mainz police about the issue.

Comment: Contact trackings apps have been from the beginning, ripe for abuse by the authorities. This should come as no surprise.

Reader Comments

sass ·

Luca?

· 2022-01-13T06:45:56Z

alexal60 · 2022-01-13T08:41:57Z

"I can't help but look around and realize that things are getting out of hand, we've been told to trust science but science just doesn't make sense."

These are the first words spoken by the artist Matt Brevner in the song More of Us, a song launched to challenge the psychosis that is marking this era of pandemic, restrictions and fears. A text that immediately went viral on the net where the American singer, famous for his non-conformism, saw his popularity soar.

“What about informed consent, what about information control, it almost seems that a country that I once called home is now slipping away” sings Brevner again, in a song much appreciated by users as an important food for thought in these complicated months. "Even though vaccination has been tripled, we know that segregation is not the right way to go."

"Freedom is a choice and it is within everyone's reach if we decide to choose it - explains Brevner - but first of all you have to turn off the news". The artist then dedicates words to health workers, at the forefront of the fight against the health emergency with grueling shifts, and invites citizens from all over the world to become aware of the situation "so that you too do not become part of the problem".

There is also a direct attack on pharmaceutical companies and multinationals, absolute winners of the Covid crisis that has brought never-before-seen earnings to their coffers: “Did you know that vaccine manufacturers also make Xanax? I would never rely on these companies for moral reasons, because for them the profits come before the people ".

And an invitation to everyone "not to feel alone, because in reality we are many more than them".

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Police probed over 'misuse' of Covid app

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