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Comment by djrj477dhsnv

10 days ago

What kind of services will use this app?

Unless their governments start issuing Android devices to all of their citizens, I don't understand how they can require use of this app for anything official.

8 comments

djrj477dhsnv

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the_mitsuhiko  10 days ago

> Unless their governments start issuing Android devices to all of their citizens, I don't understand how they can require use of this app for anything official.

Not sure who you mean by "they" but you already cannot use a lot of governmental services unless you have an Android or iOS device (at least in Austria). At least in practice that is almost impossible.

  • djrj477dhsnv  10 days ago

    By "they" I meant EU member state governments.

    > you already cannot use a lot of governmental services unless you have an Android or iOS device (at least in Austria).

    That's terrible. They have official services that require an app and can't be used via a standard browser or even paper forms? What do elderly people without smartphones do?

    • homebrewer  10 days ago

      I am in a similar situation, with very aggressive push for turning all banking and every government service into mobile applications only.

      > What do elderly people without smartphones do?

      They buy a smartphone and have their relatives set everything up for them. Not doing that isn't really an option because you can't even get your pension or planned (i.e. nonemergency) medical services anymore without going through the government mobile app.

      If they don't have any relatives, they walk to the government building that used to solve these things for them using good old paper forms, and have officers there help them out. It's a completely braindead system that was envisioned by someone who has very little idea of how the common person lives.

      Not that there are any channels to provide feedback, ironically enough. (Voting is a sham and has always been so here.)

jeroenhd  10 days ago

They don't require the app for anything official. Uploading (partially redacted) scans of your ID like you would be obligated to today, or physically verifying your age for things like alcohol delivery, should also suffice.

  • Aachen  10 days ago

    > Uploading (partially redacted) scans of your ID like you would be obligated to today

    Redacted, I wish...

    To vote in the upcoming election, I was asked to upload an uncensored copy of an identity document to the website of the municipality of The Hague

    To keep the domain I registered in 2014, the French TLD required me to send them the same thing by unencrypted email a few months ago. I tried sending a link to a PNG so it wouldn't linger in their inbox forever but they absolutely required it to be an attachment

    To buy a prepaid card in Germany, I was required to show an uncensored identity document. I had put a tiny piece of tape tape over only the burgerservicenummer that the germans can't make use of anyway because it's the Dutch numbering system that's beholden only to specific authorities

    There's scarcely anyone who appears to know what EU legislation says on identity numbers. The Dutch government themselves apparently don't