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> There is no meaningful way to exist in society today without an Apple or Google account As is the case for many other infrastructure companies, such as your
by lxgr 11mo ago
> There is no meaningful way to exist in society today without an Apple or Google account
As is the case for many other infrastructure companies, such as your local electricity network operator (or even supplier depending on market liberalization). We also didn't solve that problem by ensuring everyone's right to run a generator in their backyard or heat their city apartment with a coal oven.
If tech companies have become essential to our day to day lives and are not willing to allow for horizontal interoperability, i.e. to split over-the-top services from infrastructure and individual elements of infrastructure from each other – because walled garden lock-in undoubtedly increases profits – why not regulate them as infrastructure entirely?
- rsync 11mo agoI have neither a Google nor an Apple account. Well, to be fair, I do create an ephemeral Apple ID every time I get a new phone… But I immediately log out of iCloud after downloading the two or three apps that I use. I have no idea what my Apple ID or password is… I would have to go look them up. Further, if I lost said Apple ID, I would lose nothing of value. I believe, as you say, I exist meaningfully in society.
- eCa 11mo ago> I do create an ephemeral Apple ID every time I get a new phone In other words, you do have an in-use apple id at (pretty much) all times.
- rsync 11mo agoSure, but it has no value and nothing negative happens if it is revoked. Further: the three apps I install are not crucial - I could live just fine without them. All I really need is Safari and a working POTS endpoint for my cloud-hosted phone number ...
- tgsovlerkhgsel 11mo agoCurious: How do you do your banking? Most of my banks de-facto require an Android or iOS app for authentication, unless you want to do all your banking in person and pay hundreds of Euros in fees every month (and even that would exclude you from many services).
- rsync 11mo agoI am a US person and the four (three very large and one smaller, regional) banks that I use do not have any such requirements. Web based online banking (since nothing related to banking requires 3D or VR/AR or camera/mic access or other fancy things that apps do) and 2FA auth. That is all I have ever seen or used.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 11mo agoIn the EU, banks are AFAIK banned from using SMS 2FA, and the 2FA needs to be tied to the specific transactions. Which nowadays de facto means a bank-specific (sometimes country-specific) 2FA app, possibly with the alternative option of purchasing a pricey dedicated 2FA device.
- rsync 11mo agoFor the sake of completeness I will mention that one US bank that I use, Wells Fargo, issues the classic RSA keychain tokens: https://www.wellsfargo.com/biz/online-banking/securid/ https://www.wellsfargo.com/biz/online-banking/securid/ ... which is quite simple and cheap ... and can be used in place of SMS 2FA. The fact that these tokens exist and are so simple to deploy and use really deflates any claim (by banks) that banking and/or auth apps are required. It causes one to consider what the real motivation is behind the bank desperately pushing customers away from the simple and adequate web service towards the apps.
- novok 11mo agosomething something anti-fraud something something PM's promo packet something