Belgium has adopted an “official” app so that anyone can signal for help, so long as they belong to this exclusive group:
-
Must be a trusting patron of #Google or #Apple. Consequently,
- must needlessly buy a GSM subscription and surrender to surveillance advertisers who require¹ your mobile phone number (which in Belgium must be registered to an ID) — even though the app can make emergency contact without phone service… thus imposing a needless cost on users and also causing a #GDPR minimisation breach.
-
Must install and execute proprietary closed-source software. Consequently,
- must trust closed-source software (by #Nextel or #Telenet?)
- must be ethically aligned/okay with running #nonfreesoftware (which does not respect your freedom)
- must maintain recent hardware, buying a new phone every few years to keep up with the version requirement imposed by the closed-source app, thus:
- incurs needless hardware cost
- produces needless e-waste
-
Must be willing to leave Tor to access the access-restricted 112.be website.
① see attached image of Google demanding SMS verification for a new account. (untested: whether a mobile number is demanded when registering outside of Tor; please reply if you know the answer to that; #askFedi)
Remembering 112 seems reasonable
And 101 if it’s the police that you need.
I’ve strugged with it because I’ve thought for years it was 4 digits (and I could not keep straight whether its 1212, or 2112), and apparently both are wrong. I’ll probably still fuck it up when i need it, and dial 211.
It’s really not the sort of app where exclusivity is acceptible.
Maybe try to think about it every week, or write it on a small piece of paper in your wallet?
About your questions about calling without having a subscription, you indeed can:
https://112.be/en/frequently-asked-questions
This is not a /me/ problem. I can solve the problem for myself by using a sharpie to write it on my phone.
Considering there is this rediculously big industry of selling cosmetic skins for smartphones (whole shops to just change phone cosmetics), not many people would likely mark up their phone with sharpies.
(edit) I appreciate the reference to the FaQ but it’s broken for me (Tor users). I can reach the faq via archive.org, but it’s dysfunctional (unfolding is broken).
Most of the people in Europe probably remember 112
The primary benefit to the app is expressed as not having to remember the number. It’s the main selling point that justifies the app’s existence.
Then what is your issue if you just plan to write that on your phone?
As a side note, just had a look, it’s quite common for those apps to be on Android and iOS stores only:
The app is “official”, which means there is public support and it was developed with public money. IOW, I contributed to the creation of this app, which needlessly excludes myself and others with ethical objections to nonfree software and those boycotting Google and Apple, including those who want their GDPR right to data minimisation, which implies not needing to share a mobile phone number with Google.
There are a lot of things your money is used for that you cannot use. Do you attend every university class given in Belgium, paid by taxpayer money?
Why not use a VPN instead of Tor? Seems to prevent you from accessing a lot of useful websites
Mullvad allows to purchase VPN time using cash
That’s a useful tip about Mullvad taking cash. I have a gratis VPN which offers some degree of pseudo-anonymity, but generally VPNs do not give anonymity because there is just one relay and that relay sees both sides, and worse: VPNs have a limited number of users and browser fingerprints trivially distinguish users among the small pool of those using a particular VPN.
A VPN would be secure enough for the case at hand, but in my case the VPN blocks Tor, which means Tor and the VPN are mutually exclusive. Thus I have the hassle of disrupting Tor sessions to switch the VPN on. And again, it’s not a /me/ problem. This public service is discriminating against the Tor community in an obnoxious way (packet dropping). The problem is not whether or not one marginalised person can circumvent the blocks. The problem is that a public service is not serving the whole public.
Mullvad partly addresses this issue by having their own browser with a default fingerprint. Users wanting to have anonymity can use that and benefit from other users (which don’t even have to use Mullvad VPN to use the browser)
See my comment about the highways. Or fireworks in cities that people in the countryside cannot see. Or even worse, money transfer from one region to another. Public money usually does not serve the whole public.
That’s interesting and uncommon. The scarcity of that arrangement not to mention the non-gratis factor makes it unsuitable as a reason for rationalizing a Tor block. Good to know it’s an option for individuals looking for a circumvention.
Perhaps fireworks are not justified if they aren’t significant enough to bring outsiders in (who then spend money locally). A proper analogy would be if there are public-funded fireworks, but you’re arbitrarily blocked from the viewing area for not having a Facebook account. Or worse, you are denied police protection in Brussels for not having a Facebook acct.
Apart from that, everyone has equal access to the venue, just like the commune or hospital can only be at a finite number of places (economics and laws of physics apply). If someone chooses to live in country, they accept the consequences of travel.
If someone chooses not to become the pawn of a privacy-abusing surviellance advertiser, they inherently accept the consequences of their boycott cutting them off from the associated frills in the private sector, but they do not give up their rights to public service. They do not give up their human rights to have equal access to public healthcare resources.
I don’t see what you mean. If you can’t transfer money to certain regions, that’s a broken infrastructure which would have a rippling effect on everyone because it would mean merchants could not import goods from that region, which affects local pricing for everyone.