8 ms·

Clarification: This isn't the official German contact tracing app.

Tomte 6y ago
This is an official tracing app in several states in Germany, and probably soon in all of Germany. You're talking about the older Corona Warn App which does similar things (and is generally considered too limited), but without direct data transfer to public health authorities. That's what the Luca app does. Warn App is more for chance encounters tracking a person meeting other people. Luca is more for checking in and out of stores and other locations. [Edit: I stand by every single word, in case people doubt it.]
- makepanic 6y ago
  The cwa app will support event registration in the next version too. See https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/blob/master/event_registration.md https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/blob/ma... for details on how they do it.
  - zeepzeep 6y ago
    They always said they could have easily integrated Luca like features but no, ofc we need to pick the option with millions of marketing money behind it instead of waiting for a privacy focused version.
    - dorgo 6y ago
      Afaik, privacy focused version is not possible without changing legislation. All apps would do check-ins anonymous if not for legislation.
- onli 6y ago
  Luca is a cash grab, and maybe more sinister. Since the CWA - the official contact tracing app - switched to not collecting a central database that could be misused we have conservative politicians firing against it. "We give too much importance to data privacy", of course without being able to mention a single feature that the privacy protecting app is missing. Now Luca arrived, with some semi-prominent advocates, and you see conservative politicians shoving millions into that abomination of proprietary, data collecting and now evidently copyright infringing garbage. It is as if a certain political class had this dream scenario of a new location registry of every move of the population. That they did not get via the CWA app, and since then they attack it. But Luca could create it. Don't forget: This is Germany. Very low corruption at the lower level of society (you will never see a bribe in everyday life) and the basic organisation of the country seems competent. Incredible high amount of corruption and incompetence in the higher spheres - Wirecard, Cum Ex, Kohls schwarze Kassen, the governing party (CDU) currently has a scandal about members gaining millions via corruption when organising FFP2 masks, the country completely failed to contain Covid after the first more or less successful lockdown. Luca fits right in.
  - durnygbur 6y ago
    > dream scenario of a new location registry of every move of the population Not only politicians, I assume entities like Rundfunkbeitrag, Schufa, conuntless Inkasso will pay fortune to access such data. > Very low corruption at the lower level of society [...] Incredible high amount of corruption and incompetence in the higher spheres This is incredibly shocking for an newcomer to Germany. One swiftly hits the ceiling of 3-4k EUR net monthly and mortgage of 400-600k EUR with nowhere else to go, while watching enormous amounts of money being shuffled, fortunes hidden in idyllic villages, faceless dynasties owning chunks of industries, >1mln EUR apartments being purchased.
    - dgellow 6y ago
      > Rundfunkbeitrag They already get your location (edit: I mean address here) when you register to the local administration (Anmeldebescheinigung).
      - zeepzeep 6y ago
        Address != location. My address is no secret, where I was last friday night (and tuesday morning) is.
        dgellow 6y ago
        Sure, but the Rundfunkbeitrag has no need for your current location, they just need to know which apartment you're registered at.
        durnygbur 6y ago
        If they decide that you don't pay the license fee (doesn't matter if you really do), your live location will be beyond useful. They absolutely have the budget to implement the most invasive and abusive debt collection solution.
        6y ago
- locallost 6y ago
  I don't know why you're getting downvoted. Where I live, they recently said they will open shops for a couple of days, and you can get in if either 1) you received a vaccine 2) you use the "Luca" app so it doesn't matter who developed it, it's being used as an official app (at least in some places).
  - estaseuropano 6y ago
    Matters in that its not the government but a private company violating copyright.
    - Tomte 6y ago
      The other "official app" ("Corona Warn App") is also not developed by the government or any government-employed developers. That distinction is no distinction. "Official" means that the government has adopted it and given it a special status. The federal government and state governments have endorsed the Corona Warn App. No special privileges in lockdown are connected to it. No special use by public health authorities is made of it. Several state governments and municipal government have endorsed (and bought licenses to!) the Luca app. Special privileges in lockdown are connected with it, not everywhere, but in many places. Public health authorities are directly connected to Luca's servers. If anything, the Luca app is more official than Corona Warn App where it's in use (several German states), and poised to become more important as more states introduce it.
      - realityking 6y ago
        There is a big difference between commissioning a product (work for hire) and buying a product that has been already developed. The federal government actually owns the IP of the Corona Warn App. Luca is merely licensed by various state and local governments. You can’t expect the buyer of a software to assume responsibility for copyright violations. It’s like blaming someone for a (hypothetical) copyright violation in Windows because they sell a server that has Windows pre-installed.
        6y ago
fabian2k 6y ago
The app (Luca) that allegedly copied code from the linked one is used officially in some places in Germany (or at least some states/cities bought it, not sure how much actual use there is yet). It is not the main app for contact tracing (CWA).

This is an official tracing app in several states in Germany, and probably soon in all of Germany. You're talking about the older Corona Warn App which does similar things (and is generally considered too limited), but without direct data transfer to public health authorities. That's what the Luca app does. Warn App is more for chance encounters tracking a person meeting other people. Luca is more for checking in and out of stores and other locations. [Edit: I stand by every single word, in case people doubt it.]

makepanic 6y ago
The cwa app will support event registration in the next version too. See https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/blob/master/event_registration.md https://github.com/corona-warn-app/cwa-documentation/blob/ma... for details on how they do it.
- zeepzeep 6y ago
  They always said they could have easily integrated Luca like features but no, ofc we need to pick the option with millions of marketing money behind it instead of waiting for a privacy focused version.
  - dorgo 6y ago
    Afaik, privacy focused version is not possible without changing legislation. All apps would do check-ins anonymous if not for legislation.
onli 6y ago
Luca is a cash grab, and maybe more sinister. Since the CWA - the official contact tracing app - switched to not collecting a central database that could be misused we have conservative politicians firing against it. "We give too much importance to data privacy", of course without being able to mention a single feature that the privacy protecting app is missing. Now Luca arrived, with some semi-prominent advocates, and you see conservative politicians shoving millions into that abomination of proprietary, data collecting and now evidently copyright infringing garbage. It is as if a certain political class had this dream scenario of a new location registry of every move of the population. That they did not get via the CWA app, and since then they attack it. But Luca could create it. Don't forget: This is Germany. Very low corruption at the lower level of society (you will never see a bribe in everyday life) and the basic organisation of the country seems competent. Incredible high amount of corruption and incompetence in the higher spheres - Wirecard, Cum Ex, Kohls schwarze Kassen, the governing party (CDU) currently has a scandal about members gaining millions via corruption when organising FFP2 masks, the country completely failed to contain Covid after the first more or less successful lockdown. Luca fits right in.
- durnygbur 6y ago
  > dream scenario of a new location registry of every move of the population Not only politicians, I assume entities like Rundfunkbeitrag, Schufa, conuntless Inkasso will pay fortune to access such data. > Very low corruption at the lower level of society [...] Incredible high amount of corruption and incompetence in the higher spheres This is incredibly shocking for an newcomer to Germany. One swiftly hits the ceiling of 3-4k EUR net monthly and mortgage of 400-600k EUR with nowhere else to go, while watching enormous amounts of money being shuffled, fortunes hidden in idyllic villages, faceless dynasties owning chunks of industries, >1mln EUR apartments being purchased.
  - dgellow 6y ago
    > Rundfunkbeitrag They already get your location (edit: I mean address here) when you register to the local administration (Anmeldebescheinigung).
    - zeepzeep 6y ago
      Address != location. My address is no secret, where I was last friday night (and tuesday morning) is.
      - dgellow 6y ago
        Sure, but the Rundfunkbeitrag has no need for your current location, they just need to know which apartment you're registered at.
        durnygbur 6y ago
        If they decide that you don't pay the license fee (doesn't matter if you really do), your live location will be beyond useful. They absolutely have the budget to implement the most invasive and abusive debt collection solution.
        6y ago
locallost 6y ago
I don't know why you're getting downvoted. Where I live, they recently said they will open shops for a couple of days, and you can get in if either 1) you received a vaccine 2) you use the "Luca" app so it doesn't matter who developed it, it's being used as an official app (at least in some places).
- estaseuropano 6y ago
  Matters in that its not the government but a private company violating copyright.
  - Tomte 6y ago
    The other "official app" ("Corona Warn App") is also not developed by the government or any government-employed developers. That distinction is no distinction. "Official" means that the government has adopted it and given it a special status. The federal government and state governments have endorsed the Corona Warn App. No special privileges in lockdown are connected to it. No special use by public health authorities is made of it. Several state governments and municipal government have endorsed (and bought licenses to!) the Luca app. Special privileges in lockdown are connected with it, not everywhere, but in many places. Public health authorities are directly connected to Luca's servers. If anything, the Luca app is more official than Corona Warn App where it's in use (several German states), and poised to become more important as more states introduce it.
    - realityking 6y ago
      There is a big difference between commissioning a product (work for hire) and buying a product that has been already developed. The federal government actually owns the IP of the Corona Warn App. Luca is merely licensed by various state and local governments. You can’t expect the buyer of a software to assume responsibility for copyright violations. It’s like blaming someone for a (hypothetical) copyright violation in Windows because they sell a server that has Windows pre-installed.
      - 6y ago

fabian2k 6y ago

The app (Luca) that allegedly copied code from the linked one is used officially in some places in Germany (or at least some states/cities bought it, not sure how much actual use there is yet). It is not the main app for contact tracing (CWA).