There is always someone on standby to help you in need
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There is always someone on standby to help you in need

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)

  • @Camus
    1•3 months ago

    VPNs have a limited number of users and browser fingerprints trivially distinguish users among the small pool of those using a particular VPN.

    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)

    The problem is that a public service is not serving the whole public.

    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.

    • ciferecaNinjoOPM
      1•3 months ago

      Mullvad partly addresses this issue by having their own browser with a default fingerprint.

      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.

      Or fireworks in cities that people in the countryside cannot see.

      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.

      Or even worse, money transfer from one region to another. Public money usually does not serve the whole public.

      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.