The fun aspect to this is that some banks have forced customers to use an Android for all their banking ops. So:
① You’re late paying a bill
② Creditor locks your phone
③ You cannot access your bank to make the payment because your phone is locked
Brilliant.
You can check it’s installed (stock android) Settings > Apps > All Apps > three dot menu, Show system > search “DeviceLockController”.
Is that just a “feature” of recent AOS versions? AOS 5’s triple dot menu has nothing like “show system”.
Is Wordpress a service? It seems to be software that is apparently runs on other people’s property. So this is what I’m confused about. I write a blog that is served by a non-profit org and the software is apparently Wordpress. I don’t understand how the copyright on my work in this context would exempt Wordpress in any way.
(edit) This article clears it up → https://lifehacker.com/tech/the-difference-between-wordpress-and-wordpresscom
I’ve ditched email for the reason you mention. If I need to email a private sector entity, I might check their MX server and attempt to send a message if the receiving server is not Google or MS. But generally I nix whatever company I would otherwise want to reach. If I need to reach them (e.g. to get support for a product I already own and I’m stuck with), then I use snail mail. Same for public offices. Most government offices use Microsoft for email which is a non-starter for me. If they use MS then they’re getting snail mail from me.
What’s TAN?
(edit)
Regarding the train svc, the carsharing, Netflix, etc, I generally draw a line and say all the private sector stuff can be disregarded apart from life essentials like groceries. So in your list, the train service is a good point because that’s a public service which invokes human rights (equal access to public service). Since you mention Germany, I happen to recall some Germans saying that the train app can access tickets and fares that are otherwise unreachable, perhaps in part because some stations have no kiosk.
Don’t need Google account to access my bank. How does that work exactly?
Like most banks, a bank pushed an app exclusively via Google Playstore or Apple’s store. At the same time, that bank shut down their website and closed their walk-in over-the-counter service. Customers then had 3 choices to access their account: join Google’s walled garden, join Apple’s walled garden, or make an appointment for every single transaction which incurs fees. Alternatively, the Android app can be obtained using an app called Aurora and violate Google’s ToS by using a shared account to download the app.
I think that particular bank started making their app available in Huawei’s app store, so there is an alternative walled garden for Android users in that case. But Huawei is an uncommon option as more and more banks trend in the direction of forced-Google-patronage.
Never needed an app to dial 911…the whole point of 911/999 is that it’s easy to remember, easy to dial. Also, I haven’t dialed 911 in 25 years, but I’m pretty sure opening the dialer and pressing 3 buttons isn’t too difficult. Also, I don’t see how having a Google account is required to dial 911 (or use an app? ) to do so.
A 911 app was hypothetical but a 112 app certainly exists. You populate the app with important details like name and address. The app is capable of both voice and text (SMS) and IIRC can also connect via wi-fi if there is no GSM signal. If you can’t speak for some reason (choking, throat cut or you’re hiding from an intruder and must be silent) the app transmits all the data you configured plus whatever you can type.
update
Someone in a crossposted thread said it’s not just Playstore that marries people to Google but also an API library for financial transactions:
Having a bug tracker in that walled garden is the biggest problem. It demonstrates what I’m talking about: digital rights being disregarded.
Git itself is not proprietary so all the projects can survive without GitHub if the need arises. Ad
You’re neglecting the exclusion that’s inherent in Github when the need to bounce does NOT arise.
Also worth adding that during the war in Gaza some of us boycott Israel. Which implies boycotting Microsoft.
Additionally, you don’t need an account to view the repository or its discussions.
Advocating read-only access is comparable to endorsing only freedom 1 and 2, not freedom 0 or 4. Which is precisely what I’m talking about: FOSS projects that discard digital rights and partake in digital exclusion for some convenience frills.
There is of course a walled garden for participation and it is an issue, however it doesn’t compare to discord, which is much, much worse.
Bug trackers have more of a monopoly on bug reports than discord has on discussions. There are countless decentralized discussions about free software all over the place -- threadiverse, probably facebook, ad hoc phpbb forums, IRC, usenet, mastodon, mailing lists, conferences like FOSDEM … and rightfully so. Discussions don’t need the centralization that bug trackers do. General discussions also do not have the degree of importance to QA that bug tracking does.
Case in point, when bugs are reported outside of Github, they don’t get noticed by developers and triaged.
There’s not really much point in using a self hosted gitea or codeberg or sourcehut if you want the barrier of entry to be as low as possible for potential contributors.
But GitHub has more features (like discussions), provides better hosting and ease of use.
Bingo. Prioritizing convenience features above digital rights principles is exactly why Github’s walled garden dominates over forges that have a lower barrier of entry.
The focus of any open source project should be on development of the software, not the software which supports its development.
Again, people to setting aside their principles is exactly what I’m talking about.
I give a shit.
There are not enough of you. Evidenced by ~95%+ of noteworthy FOSS projects being jailed in Github’s walled garden.
from the article:
In short, using Discord for your free software/open source (FOSS) software project is a very bad idea. Free software matters — that’s why you’re writing it, after all. Using Discord partitions your community on either side of a walled garden, with one side that’s willing to use the proprietary Discord client, and one side that isn’t. It sets up users who are passionate about free software — i.e. your most passionate contributors or potential contributors — as second-class citizens.
Interesting to do a “s/Discord/Github/” replace on the above. Same situation yet hardly anyone gives a shit.
So yes, Drew DeVault is right. But he overestimates people’s commitment to free world digital rights principles and consistency thereof.
Isn’t this more easily fixed?
grapheneOS and the like might work for the OP and anyone with a mainstream phone, but there are a lot of unsupported cheap obscure phones which are stuck with stock Android.