5 ms·

> No we aren't. In Denmark where I live there are now trivial things that are impossible to do without an Apple or Google smartphone, and important things that

by rvense 5y ago

> No we aren't. In Denmark where I live there are now trivial things that are impossible to do without an Apple or Google smartphone, and important things that are becoming very hard. Unless laws are specifically enacted to enshrine "analogue rights" or whatever, it will become impossible to exist here without a smartphone over the next decade. Cash is largely dead and will die when the legal requirement to accept it is phased out at some point in the next few years. In addition to credit cards, there is one app for payments (owned by the largest retail bank) that has become the de facto standard for person-to-person transfers. So we are already at the point where not having a smartphone makes you a second class citizen, unable to participate in some parts of the economy.

3pt14159 5y ago
Which services specifically? This is an international forum. I want specific examples and I don't think that's too much of an ask.
- rvense 5y ago
  The worst example I've seen personally was the pension plan provider at my current job. They required an app to sign up and manage everything. They don't have a web site and I was the first person to ask about it. Parking in many places requires an app from an app store. There's lots of small community things, local classifieds etc., that exist in niche things that only have an app. Like I said, trivial things, but they add up to everyday life becoming harder. As for legal requirement: the government single sign-on that is used to interact with all government services and is also mandated for many important things like banks, insurance etc., is app-centric, though not app-only. They used to send one-time pads on cardboard but recently switch to electronic tokens. All government ID (for public health etc.) is also moving to apps. You can still get plastic cards, of course.
AtlasBarfed 5y ago
- cars will certainly soon have the state's "black box" in them - Your ID card already has RFID, and it will only get more powerful - credit, payment, banking, passports, air travel ... all getting centralized. - Go ahead and fallback to paper, that just means the paper is entered into a computer when you hand it in and they "review" it. What will probably happen is that the all-paper route will become FAR MORE ONEROUS will submitting to facial recognition, DNA samples, and the like to back-verify your identity, higher fees, wait times, until you submit to practical day-to-day needing a on-body computer device like a phone. - all democracies know laziness is the key to functionally subverting rights, it's only going to get worse. - even if you don't submit, all they people you know WILL, and the government can track you by tracking the people you know. So I guess, no friends for you. Now, for every place I said government, cross that out and put in "multinational corporation that is a monopoly or cartel in all its markets"... and it's all there, turnkey, same policies, but even less legal / constitutional protection.

by rvense 5y ago

3pt14159 5y ago

Which services specifically? This is an international forum. I want specific examples and I don't think that's too much of an ask.

rvense 5y ago
The worst example I've seen personally was the pension plan provider at my current job. They required an app to sign up and manage everything. They don't have a web site and I was the first person to ask about it. Parking in many places requires an app from an app store. There's lots of small community things, local classifieds etc., that exist in niche things that only have an app. Like I said, trivial things, but they add up to everyday life becoming harder. As for legal requirement: the government single sign-on that is used to interact with all government services and is also mandated for many important things like banks, insurance etc., is app-centric, though not app-only. They used to send one-time pads on cardboard but recently switch to electronic tokens. All government ID (for public health etc.) is also moving to apps. You can still get plastic cards, of course.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

- cars will certainly soon have the state's "black box" in them - Your ID card already has RFID, and it will only get more powerful - credit, payment, banking, passports, air travel ... all getting centralized. - Go ahead and fallback to paper, that just means the paper is entered into a computer when you hand it in and they "review" it. What will probably happen is that the all-paper route will become FAR MORE ONEROUS will submitting to facial recognition, DNA samples, and the like to back-verify your identity, higher fees, wait times, until you submit to practical day-to-day needing a on-body computer device like a phone. - all democracies know laziness is the key to functionally subverting rights, it's only going to get worse. - even if you don't submit, all they people you know WILL, and the government can track you by tracking the people you know. So I guess, no friends for you. Now, for every place I said government, cross that out and put in "multinational corporation that is a monopoly or cartel in all its markets"... and it's all there, turnkey, same policies, but even less legal / constitutional protection.