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The reason the ETA app exists is because the web is a terrible platform for doing this stuff on. The ETA app gives you fast feedback on whether or not photos th
by dgxyz 8mo ago
The reason the ETA app exists is because the web is a terrible platform for doing this stuff on. The ETA app gives you fast feedback on whether or not photos that you need to provide are any good, handles state, retries, talks to the NFC in your passport, handles long running workflows and validation etc.
The web is not a panacea. All the above is a hack job if you do it there. But there is still the backup option which was clearly found. Hell I just googled it and it went straight to the page.
- troupo 8mo ago> The ETA app gives you fast feedback on whether or not photos that you need to provide are any good, handles state, retries, talks to the NFC in your passport, handles long running workflows and validation etc. Apart from NFC all of that can be handled by a 1990s PHP application. > The web is not a panacea but there is still the backup option which was clearly found. Where by "clearly" you mean "multiple clicks to get there while being aggressively upselled the app like it was a commercial website".
- dgxyz 8mo agoNot really. It doesn't just take a single photo of your face. It takes a scan of it i.e. multiple shots. That requires something a little more complicated than a PHP app from the 90s. Yes it's aggressive but you'll have fewer problems on the app so why the hell wouldn't they push you through it?
- troupo 8mo ago> It doesn't just take a single photo of your face. It takes a scan of it i.e. multiple shots. I never knew you can only upload one photo to a website ever. Or that you can only process one photo at a time on the server. > Yes it's aggressive but you'll have fewer problems on the app so why the hell wouldn't they push you through it Because gov.uk's own team has multiple talks and articles on how not everyone has access to latest and greatest tech, accesses government services through weird devices etc.
- jacquesm 8mo agoThe better to make deepfakes of you when they inevitably get hacked. But hey, who could have seen that coming?
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- Phemist 8mo agoW3C are dragging their feet on WebNFC: https://github.com/w3c/web-nfc/issues/355 https://github.com/w3c/web-nfc/issues/355, which prevents the talking "to the NFC in your passport" flow from being fully implementable in a website (hence requiring you to install an App). Not sure what the current state of this issue is, or if this github issue represents the latest developments in it, but AFAIK it is one of the MAJOR blockers for a fully web-based flow.
- georgefrowny 8mo agoYou'd think at some point a government would say "for fucks sake" and sling an FTE at that kind of thing for a year to get it done. One guy shepherding an MR is cheaper than whatever contracted out app would cost, and you need the website anyway.
- troupo 8mo ago> W3C are dragging their feet on WebNFC They are not "dragging their feet". Chrome implemented NFC, vomited out a semblance of a standard and said "there, it's standard now". Who cares about objections from other vendors.
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- ajsnigrutin 8mo agoThere is no need for the ETA app, you should just come to the passport check, a guy there would check the passport, and you'd enter, like we used to do for decades pretty much everywhere.