I deactivated Google Play on my phone.
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I deactivated Google Play on my phone. The electricity company app was the first to be bricked. 'You must update.'
I wrote to them: ’I don’t have Google or Apple. Where else can I update the app?’ Nowhere else, they replied.
I wrote (politely) back: ’I can’t use your app any more then. It’s an odd requirement to make of your customers. A Norlys customer can only access all Norlys services if they are also a customer of one of two specific private for-profit US companies.’
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@CiaraNi I don't know what OS your phone are running, but some custom androids offer using microG, which solves at least some of the problems with not having google play.
@anderslund Godt at vide, tak for forslaget. I'm adopting the contrary method for now. If I can't access an app without Google Play, I will delete the app and use their website. I wasn't a big app fan in the first place, so I only have a smaller number of more essential ones, which lessens the hassle when I have to walk away.
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@CiaraNi @raymaccarthy Same! I am very app-allergic. The few I have on my phone have very good reasons to be there.
@ThePolishDispatch @raymaccarthy I have had only a shortlist of apps on my phone, and that's getting shortened further since I dropped Google Play.
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@CiaraNi Det er et fornuftigt valg. Jeg gør det samme. Benytter mobilen og dens apps hvor mobiliteten vitterlig gør en forskel (podcasts, kort, beskeder) og overlader fjernvameregnskabet, budgettet og e-boks til den store skærm på hjemmekontoret. Kan man kalde det et bevidst valg?
@oldrup Det har været et bevidst valg hos mig, i hvert fald.
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@CiaraNi@mastodon.green i once wrote to a banking app, they replied with a LLM generated answer 😑
@Stomata That sounds far too typical. I have had a similar experience writing to a bank while logged in to my netbank through my web browser, supposedly writing to my human customer consultant. An AI email was sent back with entirely useless links to their website, no relation whatsoever to the very specific question I'd sent. I am currently corresponding with them about this, but they very dismissively do not care.
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@ekimia I hadn't heard of MicroG until this thread. Thank you for the suggestion. It seems to be a good workaround. In this particular case, I have chosen to delete their app. On principle too - I don't want my electricity company to force me to use Google to access their services, however I get it. It's good to know the option exists though. Thanks.
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@ekimia I hadn't heard of MicroG until this thread. Thank you for the suggestion. It seems to be a good workaround. In this particular case, I have chosen to delete their app. On principle too - I don't want my electricity company to force me to use Google to access their services, however I get it. It's good to know the option exists though. Thanks.
@CiaraNi 98 % of people apps needs GooglePlayServices because the SDK is mainly based on this brick
This is why in order to have a really Libre software Android phones, MicroG had to replace it because we want the average Joe to have most apps working
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@ekimia I hadn't heard of MicroG until this thread. Thank you for the suggestion. It seems to be a good workaround. In this particular case, I have chosen to delete their app. On principle too - I don't want my electricity company to force me to use Google to access their services, however I get it. It's good to know the option exists though. Thanks.
@CiaraNi The path for liberty from #gafam is to move your phone to eOS or similar if it's supported on this list https://doc.e.foundation/devices
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@liebach Tak! I have had a far less nice exchange with a bank about their appalling use of AI in customer service. Their first response was so dismissive that that my next reply was Very Snippy. I am waiting for the flames that are still pouring out of my ears to die down before I bore the Fediverse with that story 🙂
@CiaraNi @liebach 😄 I'm reading this with interest as @donty and I would like to de-Big Tech but are only nibbling at the edges for now. I was looking at hotels yday and automatically rejected those that had a pop-up AI chatbot. The bots were identical so the hotels must be signed up to the same 'service'. I was mindful of a recent thread here about avoiding booking sites and so ploughed through the results and found this lovely little place https://www.haydensinrye.co.uk/stay-with-us
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@CiaraNi @liebach 😄 I'm reading this with interest as @donty and I would like to de-Big Tech but are only nibbling at the edges for now. I was looking at hotels yday and automatically rejected those that had a pop-up AI chatbot. The bots were identical so the hotels must be signed up to the same 'service'. I was mindful of a recent thread here about avoiding booking sites and so ploughed through the results and found this lovely little place https://www.haydensinrye.co.uk/stay-with-us
@callunavulgaris Lookls lovely - have a nice stay there, when the time comes! I bet they'll greet you with a cup of tea when you arrive.
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@ThePolishDispatch @raymaccarthy I have had only a shortlist of apps on my phone, and that's getting shortened further since I dropped Google Play.
@CiaraNi @ThePolishDispatch @raymaccarthy Actually a good idea. It also reduces the attack surface.
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@kevin I have adopted a similar policy. I walk away from digital solutions or companies that want to force an unwanted digital solution on me. Or that refuse to take cash. With an essential service like utilities, I can't not be a customer, but I can and did delete the electricity company's app. I've only ever used a web browser for banking, so have luckily avoided that problem - coercive funtions in banking apps seems to be a big problem for many people.
@CiaraNi I've always lived like this, so I never really had to change my ways. So yeah, I guess it's easy for me to say how easy it is.
And in the Netherlands the situation is relatively okay. Sure, there are some places I can't go and some things I can't do, but when I then hear stories about Sweden with their Mobile BankID for everything and many Swedes not even knowing what their physical currency looks like, that really makes me shiver..
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I deactivated Google Play on my phone. The electricity company app was the first to be bricked. 'You must update.'
I wrote to them: ’I don’t have Google or Apple. Where else can I update the app?’ Nowhere else, they replied.
I wrote (politely) back: ’I can’t use your app any more then. It’s an odd requirement to make of your customers. A Norlys customer can only access all Norlys services if they are also a customer of one of two specific private for-profit US companies.’
@CiaraNi Is is safe to assume that this "app" is just a bundled homepage with no sensible reason to run directly on your phone?
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@CiaraNi I've always lived like this, so I never really had to change my ways. So yeah, I guess it's easy for me to say how easy it is.
And in the Netherlands the situation is relatively okay. Sure, there are some places I can't go and some things I can't do, but when I then hear stories about Sweden with their Mobile BankID for everything and many Swedes not even knowing what their physical currency looks like, that really makes me shiver..
@CiaraNi But my electricity provider (Eneco) and the grid operator (Stedin) both just have websites here that I can open in Firefox on Debian on a coreboot-powered PC, so I'm not even sure if they have "apps".
And I'm also not sure what I would be missing if I couldn't access that. I mean, they e-mail me a PDF every month, so even if I couldn't log in to the website, I'd still have a monthly overview.
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@CiaraNi As I am avid user of the non-googled 25yo phone for my daily talks I twice got asked "install app or else go away". They both (bank/telco) caved in when threatened with invoking EU anti-discrimintation laws and reporting them straight to the EC (It was before the 1499/1500 directives even, I was invoking 2019 one IIRC). I wonder whether Denmark anti-discrimination laws can be used to get at the google-happy company demandin customer in EU to use US-based services.
@CiaraNi correction: not 25 but 22yo, 2004, made in Finland.
Original BL5c battery had to be augmented in 2019 as phone's standby time lowered to mere three days and talking time to 5hrs. Battery of course replacable in 5 seconds. Artifacts on the left are not damage, just protective tape edge to make it easy replacable.
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@CiaraNi @ThePolishDispatch @raymaccarthy Actually a good idea. It also reduces the attack surface.
@martinvermeer @ThePolishDispatch @raymaccarthy It's certainly simpler, at any rate
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@CiaraNi I've always lived like this, so I never really had to change my ways. So yeah, I guess it's easy for me to say how easy it is.
And in the Netherlands the situation is relatively okay. Sure, there are some places I can't go and some things I can't do, but when I then hear stories about Sweden with their Mobile BankID for everything and many Swedes not even knowing what their physical currency looks like, that really makes me shiver..
@kevin Sweden and London, the two places I've had most problems paying with cash. I now actively stick to cash for over-the-counter transactions here (Denmark) on a 'use it or lose it' principle.
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@CiaraNi Is is safe to assume that this "app" is just a bundled homepage with no sensible reason to run directly on your phone?
@jordgubben I don't know - I don't know anything about the technical side. If it's anything to go by: there were some features in the app that aren't on the webpage or aren't as user-friendly in the web browser.
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@CiaraNi correction: not 25 but 22yo, 2004, made in Finland.
Original BL5c battery had to be augmented in 2019 as phone's standby time lowered to mere three days and talking time to 5hrs. Battery of course replacable in 5 seconds. Artifacts on the left are not damage, just protective tape edge to make it easy replacable.
@ohir 22 years young - excellent.
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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Non siamo più in grado di riconoscere i testi generati dalle IA?
@aitech - Uno studio afferma che tanto varrebbe lanciare una moneta.
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My clothes are also kinda fitting funny. I'll need to update my wardrobe soonish...
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@cwebber
Nice! It's such a good feeling when you see your body visibly changing!Congrats!
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@devil se cominciano con me, scappano subito 😂😂😂
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@malerba bravi!
Gli Ortolani da tastiera invece hanno le unghie pulite!
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I can tell just how much I've lost by my bathrobe. Towards the end of 2024 it barely closed anymore. Now each flap wraps to the side of my body. That's a *huge* amount lost.
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@gmarcosanti ma è venuto prima l'uovo o la frittata?
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Pollame.
