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This is not a refusal of tech for the sake of refusal of tech. Nor does it have anything to do with being left behind. A smart phone is a very powerful and pra

This is not a refusal of tech for the sake of refusal of tech. Nor does it have anything to do with being left behind. A smart phone is a very powerful and practical device. But if we don't take care to prevent it, a smart phone can easily become a dangerous surveillance device. This downside needs to be regulated effectively. I'm not saying you necessarily need to be afraid of your smart phone in the long term. But currently it still feels very much like a wild west, with everyone making surveillance and privacy land grabs. The protections are -as yet- sparse. I think lawmakers need to be more careful and coordinated on this. Possibly I could see people carrying sensitive credentials on their smart phone, but only if it is then also illegal to search it. Or -vice versa- make it legal for law enforcement to search a smart phone, but then make it illegal to store sensitive credentials on it. Allowing both at once is a potential recipe for disaster, because searching the phone can easily lead to a compromise of the credentials (think eg. private keys). To answer your question directly: I think it is pretty sane for people to want to wait out the regulatory landscape here, and not immediately pick up every novelty for the sake of novelty. [ That said, possibly the overton window on carrying papers has shifted a bit in the past 100 years. At one point people thought passports were a temporary WW I thing! : https://theconversation.com/when-world-leaders-thought-you-shouldnt-need-passports-or-visas-64847 https://theconversation.com/when-world-leaders-thought-you-s... ]

LatteLazy 3y ago
I think we're conflating a few different issues here. Smartphones are Powerful surveillance devices whether used for passports or not. I would like that to be more regulated (or regulated at all in fact). But that isn't what's under discussion. And since a (paper) passport already involves being tracked as you cross a border having a passport on your phone adds no extra privacy breaches. Similarly I am subject to warrantless, suspicionless search at all border crossings already (including my phone). So using a phone for my passport costs me nothing here either. I don't object to general wariness about surveillance, in fact I encourage it. But this is not a form of additional surveillance... To me it seems people are just hiding behind catch phrases like "elitism" because they don't like the idea but have not actually bothered to consider it (not you, but other replies here).
- Kim_Bruning 3y ago
  * If the phone is compromised, now people can access your passport outside the border zone too. This can include critical personal information (PII) that is not intended to be shared. * Not all borders in all countries track you. Specifically EU internal borders typically do not. * Not all borders in all countries subject you to a routine warrant-less search, not all borders conduct a phone search. (IMHO no borders should, but that's a different story). Specifically EU internal borders typically do not.

LatteLazy 3y ago

I think we're conflating a few different issues here. Smartphones are Powerful surveillance devices whether used for passports or not. I would like that to be more regulated (or regulated at all in fact). But that isn't what's under discussion. And since a (paper) passport already involves being tracked as you cross a border having a passport on your phone adds no extra privacy breaches. Similarly I am subject to warrantless, suspicionless search at all border crossings already (including my phone). So using a phone for my passport costs me nothing here either. I don't object to general wariness about surveillance, in fact I encourage it. But this is not a form of additional surveillance... To me it seems people are just hiding behind catch phrases like "elitism" because they don't like the idea but have not actually bothered to consider it (not you, but other replies here).

Kim_Bruning 3y ago
* If the phone is compromised, now people can access your passport outside the border zone too. This can include critical personal information (PII) that is not intended to be shared. * Not all borders in all countries track you. Specifically EU internal borders typically do not. * Not all borders in all countries subject you to a routine warrant-less search, not all borders conduct a phone search. (IMHO no borders should, but that's a different story). Specifically EU internal borders typically do not.