Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which can be printed on paper?
This is true. I would need to print twice a week and I don't own a printer.
In the UK, you can have it posted to you, so you don't need a printer.
The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
181–190 of 330 posts
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
In NL I have to show a QR code to enter certain facilities.
Which can be printed on paper?
For now. As an example, there are Amazon Prime discounts available at Whole Foods, and this QR code which asserts your membership cannot be printed because it embeds an OTP-like temporal code which changes every 60 seconds.
Any QR code which can be printed, can be copied. There's a vested interest for the operators of these systems to reduce the copyability of these codes (think: vaccine passports). Embedding a temporal code, changing the QR code every few minutes, and invalidating old codes, essentially OTP, is the most straightforward and industry standard way of doing this; it's inevitable.
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's interesting you say that I've recently started reading Dune, and one point that I found interesting was that the Butlerian Jihad was not a revolution where they swore of the machines who had become malicious against them but rather that some humans were using the machines to oppress other humans and that is what led to the Jihad. I find it interesting that all these technologies that are supposed to make our liv…
I don't think that Butlerian Jihad is a solution because, apart from authorial fiat in fiction, groups willing to use intelligent machines will not be ruled over by forces unwilling to use intelligent machines. It's like positing a future where a coalition of crossbow-using armies defeats armies that use rifles and then imposes a comprehensive ban on rifles.
Tell that to the Taliban.
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#184Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
> My bank has made it (almost) impossible to make payments without a phone, btw My bank has several buildings full of people, all within driving distance of my house. Any of those people will happily accept a stack of paper bills. If you don't want to use digital forms of payment, why on earth are you using a bank that doesn't have physical branches located near your home?
Any of those people will happily accept a stack of paper bills. Have you actually tried depositing large amounts of cash on a regular basis? Sounds like a good way to get your account flagged and suspended. Not to mention the Treasury's seeming animosity toward cash as an instrument of payment.
> Have you actually tried depositing large amounts of cash on a regular basis? Sounds like a good way to get your account flagged and suspended.
1. OP said "make payments", not "receive money". Literally no one is going to give a shit if you make your mortgage or car payment in cash.
2. LOL, yes, I deposit cash all the time, including a quite large sum at least twice a year (charity events). Cash-based businesses are still very much a thing.
3. I write like $10K worth of checks every month, and deposit around $3K-$6K worth of checks every month. No smartphone required.
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#186We are long beyond that point, sadly. We are right now in the process of a) becoming legally required to own and carry a particular kind of device and b) being legally unable to fully control said device and c) having that device explicitly working (again by legal requirement) against our own interests It will be interesting to watch how things will progress and whether governments or corporations will be the ones ho…
What in the world...?! What's in everyone's coffee this morning?
HN has gone off the deep end this morning, across multiple threads, and I'm here for every moment of it.
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
No we aren't. I don't have to buy a phone. Yes, the apps make the border easier for Covid, but don't be ridiculous. I can fallback to filling out a piece of paper. Furthermore, I can buy an [PinePhone, Librem 5, etc] phone and "fully control" that. As for c) that's been part of life since the government got the right to tap your phone or telegraph. Right now there are troubling signs for the direction of American dem…
Did you try running banking apps on the PinePhone? My bank has made it (almost) impossible to make payments without a phone, btw. Either you need to receive SMS messages or use their proprietary app. I could receive SMS messages without a phone but I would expect this to be a solution that eventually gives me more trouble than it's worth.
My bank has a mobile friendly website? I'm sure it would work on PinePhone. Either way, this is goalpost moving. I don't even need to own a bank account. OP said government.
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
What? Literally everywhere that requires a vax card accepts paper versions too
My concern is more with people in somewhat unusual circumstances who get "lost in the bureaucracy". I am fully vaccinated, but unable to get a QR code – digital or paper version. My circumstances are somewhat unusual: I moved back to the Netherlands after a few years abroad (I am a Dutch citizen), and due to the difficult rental market and not having a job (yet) I've been forced to stay in temporary accommodations. I…
No offense intended but if that's the worst that happened to you during the pandemic so far, I'd count myself incredibly lucky and be happy about it. People slipping through bureaucratic cracks is unfortunate but happens with literally everything, emergency or not.
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#189Surveillance-resistant systems are not an answer to authoritarianism. Private companies do not have freedom of operation in authoritarian regimes. It's a special sort of odd neoliberal fantasy where capitalists or technologists can route around an authoritarian social movement that seizes the power of the state. Do you want to know what happens to people who think they can route around an authoritarian regime with cl…
Technology people make this mistake a lot. They see a problem like "the government might track all of our payments in the future" and create bitcoin. Or "the government might rootkit our phones" and creates an open source hardware phone. Or "the government might want to see who you are communicating with" and create an E2E encrypted chat application.
None of these solutions do anything to solve the original problem, it just allows a portion of the population to ignore them.
Re: The window to deploy surveillance-resistant systems is running out
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that Butlerian Jihad is a solution because, apart from authorial fiat in fiction, groups willing to use intelligent machines will not be ruled over by forces unwilling to use intelligent machines. It's like positing a future where a coalition of crossbow-using armies defeats armies that use rifles and then imposes a comprehensive ban on rifles.
Tell that to the Taliban.
Resisting foreign occupation is much easier than imposing a foreign occupation of one's own. The Taliban never had a chance of imposing its rule in the United States. The Butlerian Jihad of the Dune universe eliminated intelligent machines everywhere.