Fortunately, we don't have the government handing out free handset so opting out is still a legal right and a practically realistic option. My concern is that if few enough people do so, this will no longer be the case for long.
Is it though? Not long ago many European countries required some form of digital COVID pass for travel.
Likewise for doing taxes e.g. here in Sweden BankID and Kivra are practically required unless you want to be waiting weeks for letters and queueing at the office.
>Not long ago many European countries required some form of digital COVID pass for travel.
no they didn't? you could just access the platform on your computer and print the QR code the old fashioned way. Hell, you could do that without even having any electronics, you could just go to the library and print it there.
>unless you want to be waiting weeks for letters and queueing at the office.
this reads to me as "if you don't use these digital systems you have to do things like they were before digital systems"
> "if you don't use these digital systems you have to do things like they were before digital systems"
There's also the expectation from society. Even getting that covid shot was hard without an app, to the point of an extra long queue where nothing worked and in the end a lady told me sternly that I shouldn't be there and to get with the times and that I am young enough to be able to use a smartphone. As if that was the problem ...
That was just covid. Doing (non-trivial) taxes on paper involves some calculation, and I am liable if I get it wrong, whereas I know the web page does all calculations the right way.
Then there's school reports, public transportation, public libraries, calling in sick to work, taking out pension, the list is long and every single step of it is an inconvenience constantly reminding me to just stick with the non-free, mainstream, controlled by a private company, way.
> this reads to me as "if you don't use these digital systems you have to do things like they were before digital systems"
You missed the part where they might actually prefer to use digital systems but would only be able to so by delegating their identity to a trusted and locked down iOS or Android+SafetyNet device. Other comments seem to indicate that this is not a strict requirement for filing your taxes digitally where GP is at, but that's beside the point of your comment.
True, I printed mine on credit card format and laminated it, it was in my card wallet. Much faster than opening an app every time and zero tracking, at least on my side.
Last time I tried (granted, years ago), BankID was still relatively straight-forward to set up and use on a PC. Not all sites support the flow, though.
Authorities should also still accept alternatives like Freja (if there's anything they won't close the door on it's making it straightforward to pay your taxes, I guess).
I'm far from happy wit the situation and would prefer that authorities take an open standards-approach compatible with FLOSS. But it's also not as terrible as it may seem at first.
But is it straight-forward to set up on any PC, or just those locked down with proprietary single vendor controlled software?
In the latter case, it is not in any way better than a proprietary phone. In practice probably worse, since it is easier and cheaper to keep an extra phone around.
You could've gotten the QR-Code on a piece of paper, without a phone (which still is ridiculous that they forced people to use some random QR-Code and ignored the internationally accepted vaccination card of the WHO)
Don't remind me. I tried to fight it for a decade. I was mad. MAD.
We are being actively PUSHED into this shit and almost everyone seems to be totally fine with it. They are herding us into complete obedience. A phone is more secure because when you install their apps, they can monitor everything you do. Banking? Mobile. Document signing? Mobile. Toilet paper? Mobile.
I am making a bet here: buy the end of the decade, every EU citizen will be directly required to go either Android or Apple. Two platforms under complete European control.
Frankly, I blame the masses for falling for it. It's always the masses. Once the cabal swoops in the vast majority, the rest is taken care of by society itself.
Here in Spain we have the problem of this interpersonal payment system called "Bizum". It's like a local paypal but owned by the banks. So many people use it that it can't be avoided.
But my bank (and others too) only offer this functionality in their mobile app, not on their website. So if you need to use it you're really forced to use the mobile app.
In my case I have an old iPod Touch which I use only for this, nothing else. It works ok. But I wish I could just use it from the website from whatever device I want.
I have a dumb phone (Nokia 8110 4G) that I wouldn't trade with the latest iOS/Android model, and during Covid restrictions I downloaded and printed the pass at home with no problems. I also pay a small fee to my bank so I can keep using SMSs for transaction confirmations instead of surrendering to their app. Also using SMSs with PayPal and a few other online services. The day they force me to use smartphones which, privacy aside, to me are next to unusable crap, to do things I can easily do on a PC, is the day I'm retiring to a technology-free place for the rest of my life.
EU regulations now forbid SMS-based authentication. I tried explaining to the bank clerk several times how I am not using the Google Play Store but it was only when I held my Nokia "dumb phone" in their face that they gave me a hardware token generator (for free actually!).
For context, I use a Nokia 8110 and a LineageOS device.
The sales pitch is that you get to "own" the customer, in the sense that you have more control over the user experience. Fewer ad blockers, notifications to keep the user "engaged" etc. With more control over the device there is also the potential of easier support. There are plenty metrics collected so there is data to show that all these are true.
But all this is now inherent to the market. The few agencies who didn't offer apps went mostly out of business. So nobody needs to know why they want it anymore, it's just what is being offered and the world moves on.
The open web may prove to be a historical curiosity. Just like personal universal turing machines. The jury is still out, hopefully there will be a movement back in our lifetimes.
This is a case where I want to mention Austria as a positive example: The vaccination certificate app is open source on Github, so you can compile it yourself and not need to use the Play Store.
Likewise for doing taxes e.g. here in Sweden BankID and Kivra are practically required unless you want to be waiting weeks for letters and queueing at the office.