I deactivated Google Play on my phone.
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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.
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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 are you using default stock rom?
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@CiaraNi
The software sovereignty scale@notsoloud @CiaraNi @sindum Måske man skulle finde på noget mere specifikt i stedet for at “submarine” specifikke krav til licenser ind i det?
Det primære må være friheden til at installere en app på det device man ønsker.
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@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.
@CiaraNi Here in the Netherlands "PIN only" is really a large city thing, and even there it's rare.
I live in a village in the bible belt, and over here it's unthinkable that a shopkeeper would not accept cash.
I have my office in the center of the second largest city in the country, and even there it's rare to find places that don't accept cash. They exist, but the place right next to it will accept it then.
And we have a law coming up next year that makes cash acceptance mandatory.
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@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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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 Worth looking at EU directives on accessibility e.g. Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (Text with EEA relevance) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32019L0882 - we might all be relying on the minimum standard set for accessibility yet!
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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.’
Such an interesting point. I have an issue with public announcements made on (and sometimes only made on) Facebook. I don't have a Facebook account (never have). On my phone, I can't even see the 1st page of a Facebook account. On my computer, I can sometimes see a few posts and a few comments.
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@agturcz @CiaraNi that's awesome, I hope the electricity company does something with your request.
We don't have a similar campaign in the Netherlands, but we do have a similar problem. I'd love to get a Fairphone or any linux based phone with an alternative app store like @fdroidorg , but then my banking apps wouldn't work anymore. Same with DigiD (gov auth).
It would be great if gov and companies offered their apps in non-proprietary app stores. Maybe we need a campaign too @bo
@Gina @agturcz @CiaraNi @fdroidorg @bo or they could just do a responsive web site rather than have to develop two mobile phone apps for Google/Apple. Far easier for everyone.
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@AccordingtoWouter I agree so much. I keep thinking about exactly this. Money and greed is at the root of the enshittification and fascism. We hold the best weapon: mass boycotts. If everyone immediately stopped buying on Amazon, using WhatsApp, etc., they'd feel it.
In the specific case here, it's the electricity company. I can't just not be their customer. But I could delete the app and let them know why. I've boycotted others completely - deleted Spotify, am almost deMicrosofted, etc.
@CiaraNi I have long since ceased to understand why people continue to use META products or hang out on X. There are plenty of alternatives. Meanwhile, the companies in question continue to support Trump and ICE with both data and financial backing, and they also use those platforms to influence people.
They literally help fascists come to power and then complain about it or are shocked by the actions of fascists. Incomprehensible!
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undefined oblomov@sociale.network shared this topic
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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.’
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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@pol_9000 @codinghorror OK I'm missing something, why would there be social stigma associated with parental leave?
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@oblomov @codinghorror I m not sure on the social stigma if it is just part of the normal tax declaration. Not sure about Italy, but here in Luxembourg we have good parental leave (6month for each parent, paid at up to 5 thirds of the minimum wage) and there is no stigma about it.
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One time there was a mouse in my old apartment. We saw it scurrying around at times but never saw any other sign of it.
When we moved out, we were emptying out the pantry and pulled out the tray we toss single serving condiments packets in when we get takeout. Every packet of mayo was ripped open and licked clean and evenly other condiment completely untouched.
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@rapitadaglialieni Intanto con l'aiuto di soben.io ho trovato:
* mogliemammepervocazione.com/la… (pdf diretto: mogliemammepervocazione.com/wp… )
* catholicinspired.com/post/stat…
* religiocando.it/fileXLS/nuovo_…
* chiesadigenova.it/catechistico… (questo non da il permesso di stamparlo)
* wiki.ninux.org/ChiSiamo (ehm, no, questo non credo che c'entri. però era divertente che fosse uscito tra i risultati :D )ci ho dedicato 10 minuti, quindi alla signora potete mettere fuori 2 ore di lavoro :D
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@eniko i don’t know if any likes mayo…
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@pol_9000 @codinghorror I did some calculations on the situation in Italy a few years back, and it would have been quite possible for us. I'm not familiar enough with the US situation to speak about there, especially with the federal vs state system, but from a quick look at the federal budget there's something like 4 T$ devoted to social security &c, which would be what, 1.2K$/person/month if it was an UBI?
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@pol_9000 @codinghorror (also if you can act on the tax rates, higher priority should be given to making the rich pay their dues through a solid progressive taxation system, which would incidentally increase the cash flow and make it easier to implement an UBI)
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@alberto_cottica @mora @FlaviaMarzano sono felice che lo starter pack voci di donne sia stato d'aiuto anche ai maschietti 😄
alla fine mastodon è bello ma trovare le persone è a volte un incubo.
