@aral This is why standards are important.

@aral I remember running frantically (late) to a medical appointment and telling the secretary that I had not gotten a reminder call. No, no, she said. We texted you. They texted my LANDLINE and still refused to see me because I was late having received no reminder. I left that practice, thinking about people with no cell phone.

@aral This has been going on for 2 decades or so in poorer neighborhoods. It can be broadened out to include no phone number.

@aral Oh, our daughter was almost dropped as a patient by her medical provider, when we chose to not give consent to electronic processing of her health data - until we pointed out that this is illegal under GDPR regulations.

@aral

I could not agree more!

Having just read Varouvakis' new book, Technofeudalism, What Killed Capitalism.... and frankly YIKES 😳😳😳

@blbc

@aral i agree and disagree.

agree in that proprietary tech, google, apple, as a condition to access is ridiculous.

i do think public funding can create open source alternatives, including hardware, which can be mandatory options for businesses to support if it is an access requirement to basic services or something.

Is is quite clear, that you cant access a lot of services without cash or letters, the telephone or motorized transport. ...and so on. that is tech too. time moves on

@aral same goes for cars.

@aral fait accompli

@aral you're confusing technology with monopoly and capitalism.

You can have sustainable/social/community owned technology that doesn't harm you more than non-technological alternatives would do.

Technology is a tool, at this point we should also not use printers because they allow to print nazi manifests...

The main issue is corrupt or incompetent politicians. Often both.

@aral @briankrebs If the past month I've come across a variety of things that required a smart phone. No problem for me but I always worry about others. And that people shouldn't be forced to buy one. A college friend who is a Professor or Engineering and designed artificial knees still has a flip phone, his choice. In fact, I don't want to require that people have a mobile phone.

@aral
One of the reasons I refuse to go into restaurants that require scanning a QR code in order to see a menu or pay. I shouldn't be required to carry a phone and give them another layer of data just to have dinner. That also discriminates against people who for whatever reason don't have a smart phone. When I walk out, I make sure the establishment knows why.

@aral

100% agreed, when we designed the Berlin COVID proof of vaccination/testing (the BärCODE), one of our key criteria was that normal people didn't need to have an app, nor did they even need a phone, the QR code be on a piece of paper and it would still be a verifiable proof of vaccination/negative test.

@aral another aspect of this people don’t consider… schooling. My teen in 10th grade requires internet to use her school provided Chromebook for assignments. I’m a disabled single mom. We rent a room. The guy we rent from has been purposely limiting our internet access even though he knows she can’t do her work. It’s infuriating.

@aral
Have you seen Amy Webb's latest talk at SXSW 2024 about which technological developments we can expect, that will (possibly) shape our societies?
Horrible!

@aral in France, access to your "personal training account" (the money you contribute while employed to a training fund) requires authentication with a Google account. No alternatives . in theory there is a paper form, but the system can't process it anymore.

@aral how is this even a thing for not having a google or apple device?