In Schleswig-Holstein, the days of the Luca app are numbered. Because of data protection concerns, the first federal state is now turning its back on you – other countries are still considering. An overview.
As a digital tracking tool for contacts, the Luca app was greeted with high hopes in the corona pandemic. Millions of people use the app on their smartphones so that they no longer have to hand over their data when they go to restaurants or at events. The app is directly connected to the health authorities, and vaccination certificates can also be stored.
But the use of Luca is still controversial today. Many data protectionists see risks in the central data storage, the manufacturers, however, refer to the protection through encryption technology. Individual health authorities and the county council see advantages. “The Luca system can relieve the health authorities and should therefore continue to be used,” said a spokeswoman.
Twelve federal states decide on the Luca app
An incident in Mainz had recently fueled the debate about the app: the police used data from the app through the health department when investigating a fatal fall in a restaurant without a sufficient legal basis. After that, individual politicians demanded that federal states not extend expiring contracts of the app. The action by the police in Mainz was also sharply criticized by the makers of the Luca app.
Now, in the next few weeks, many federal states will have to decide how to proceed with the Luca app. While Schleswig-Holstein has already decided to terminate the contract with the private operator, twelve other countries are still in the process of checking this, as a survey by the German press agency revealed. Three states do not have a contract: North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Thuringia, but individual health authorities also use the app there.
Patrick Hennig, managing director of the Luca operator neXenio, appealed to the federal states to use all established technical means to get the pandemic under control at the current peak of the incidences. “The Luca app and the Corona warning app complement each other perfectly.” Information on the individual risk is particularly important when the incidences are very high and CWA warning messages appear very frequently. “And only the Luca app delivers that.” The information on the circumstances, place and time of a possible infection are “often the tip of the balance that moves you to really go into isolation or at least to be tested”.
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The situation in the individual countries:
The Ministry of Health Baden-Wuerttemberg does not want to decide until the end of February before the deadline in March. The state government sees the app as a “good and data protection-compliant component” of prevention, but emphasizes that the Corona warning app and Luca app can be used at the same time. More than 5.9 million people checked in within 28 days. The network policy spokesman for the Greens in the state parliament, Alexander Salomon, considers the Luca app to be “dead as a mouse” when it comes to warning and tracking.
Bavaria has not yet made a decision whether it will continue to rely on Luca. That said a spokesman for the digital ministry. The license expires on April 5th.
The Senate in Berlin also checks whether the contract is to be extended. That will be decided “after a comprehensive assessment of the previous operation and the pandemic situation”, said the health administration. The use so far has been positive. The contract ends in March.
Brandenburg has provided around one million euros for one-year app use in 18 health authorities, the contract runs until the end of March. The Ministry of Health announced that the decision as to whether the contract will be extended is still pending. The Corona warning app is a good alternative, since check-in for restaurants has also been possible with it. A survey by the ministry in 2021 showed that only one health department reported productive use of Luca.
Even if Bremen continues to use the Luca app is unclear. “The contract runs until March, by then a decision will be made,” said a spokeswoman for the health department. Since its introduction in spring 2021, Luca has only requested data ten times in Bremen. But: “The system is easy to use in the health department.”
The Hanseatic city Hamburg As Luca frequent user and home of the first Luca representative Smudo from the Fantastischen Vier, a decision to extend the license remains open. “A decision has to be made by the end of February,” said a spokesman for the tax authorities.
Schleswig-Holstein is abolishing the Luca app
Hesse procured the Luca app under the leadership of the Ministry for Digital Strategy and Development and invested 2.1 million euros. The contract runs until the end of March. A final decision about an extension has not yet been made.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had re-concluded the contract at short notice after a complaint by the Higher Regional Court because of a direct award. According to the digitization ministry, this will expire on March 12th. Until then, it should be decided how to proceed.
If Lower Saxony will continue to use the Luca app, health minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) has not been clarified. A license runs until the end of March.
Also in Rhineland-Palatinate According to government spokeswoman Andrea Bähner, a decision has not yet been made. “Rhineland-Palatinate is very interested in a common solution.” The state data protection officer Dieter Kugelmann demands “to seriously examine whether the Luca app is still needed as an instrument for fighting pandemics”. The Corona warning app may be sufficient.
in the Saarland It is also unclear whether the contract will be extended beyond March. For a decision, the health authorities, the Dehoga and the Pop-Rat – a body of popular culture – were asked for an opinion, said the Ministry of Health.
In Saxony-Anhalt Digital Minister Lydia Hüskens (FDP) recommends that the contract end “because the Corona Warning app is a state-funded app that offers functionality analogous to the Luca app”. The relief for health authorities had not occurred to the extent hoped for. The Ministry of Health wants to speak to countries that have used the Luca app in the next few weeks and vote on a decision. The contract expires in March.
Schleswig-Holstein lets the license expire. The decision to terminate in March was mainly made because the Corona state ordinance no longer includes an obligation to collect contact details since September 2021, said a spokeswoman for the Schleswig-Holstein district council.