Joana
Cotar
Basic
Rights in the Corona Crisis
German Bundestag, May 7, 2020, Plenarprotokoll
19/158, pp. 19561-19562
[Joana Cotar is an Alternative für
Deutschland Bundestag member from the western German state of Hessen. A
communications manager, she is the AfD’s spokesman for digital policy in the Bundestag.
She here introduces two AfD motions (Drucksache 19/18976, 18977) concerning
basic rights in the Corona crisis. Jens Spahn (CDU/CSU) is the German Minister for Health.]
Right
honorable Frau President. Worthy colleagues.
How
is an amount of trust squandered in the briefest time? The government in recent
weeks has impressively demonstrated that to us. I am speaking of the Corona
app. What chaos, what a communications disaster, what absurd and dangerous
planning, ladies and gentlemen.
Ulli Nissen (SPD): You are the
ultimate in absurdity.
Initially,
Jens Spahn wanted to allow the evaluation of location data for the control of Covid-19;
an absolutely disproportionate incursion upon the basic right to information
self-determination, as well as being technologically senseless. The outcry was
sufficiently great that he had to withdraw the plan. Now it shall be directed
to apps. To a tracing app is suddenly associated the data contribution app of
the RKI [Robert Koch Institute]. Soon there shall be – besides others – a quarantine
logbook app. An immunity certification app is also being discussed. The government
is evidently happy to make use of this crisis so as to see how far it can go
before the citizens have finally had enough. These assaults upon the rights of
freedom may not be otherwise described.
Initially,
the government added the tracing app to the central service approach. Thereupon
300 scientists from renowned universities warned of a possibly unprecedented
surveillance. Despite that, the Federal government adhered to the central
approach. The Big Brother idea was plainly too attractive. Once athwart the
tech giants Google and Apple, the government had to give up the plan.
Thus
it shall now be aimed at the decentralized approach. Exactly how, we do not
know. We could ascertain in the Digital Agenda committee that there is no
schedule, no budget, no one is responsible. The data defense is not yet defined
and the technical problems quite certainly not. There has been not the
slightest personal conversation with Apple, thus with those responsible for
whether this app can function at all. There is no exit plan. And most important
of all: There is not the slightest planning by the government to defend those not
using the app from social discrimination. This app must, if it comes to that,
be absolutely transparent and voluntary, and it must not come to pass that one
can no longer simply set foot in the supermarket or can no longer go to work if
one does not use the app. That it does not go that far, lies within your
responsibility, dear government. Do your job!
At
the moment, you are doing the exact opposite. From the CSU ranks comes the
proposal to link the use of the app to the basic rights.
Stefan
Müller (CDU/CSU –Erlangen): What rubbish! Where did you get
that nonsense?
What
an absurdly dangerous thought! Just like the idea of coaxing the people with
tax reductions. Basic rights are not for sale, dear colleagues.
An
app is not a cure-all. It replaces no hygiene measures. Not once has it been
shown to be of general epidemiological significance. Singapore, long considered
a model, is experiencing a horrific second wave – despite the app. Yet that is
the government’s Brave New World; we shall simply accustom ourselves to the
surveillance. And if not enough citizens participate, then after the freedom
comes the compulsion – and it is to be by social exclusion. The city and local
councils are already requiring extensive access to practically stored data. The
police are fine with that. Look at Baden-Württemberg.
The
AfD consistently rejects these incursions upon civil rights. When in doubt,
freedom! The AfD therefore demands that the government stop the app planning. Come
about and concentrate yourself on what may really help. Let us find a way to
normality without spying, without surrender of civil rights, but with a
healthy, human understanding.
[Translated by Todd Martin]
