Seems nice but is actually a terrible move. It's another step towards the presumption that everyone should have a smartphone.
Seems nice but is actually a terrible move. It's another step towards the presumption that everyone should have a smartphone.
That's like saying that using tax dollars to pay for roads assumes that everyone has a car.
MOST people do use things like government/taxpayer funded roads, public transportation, water, healthcare, etc that are considered as basic necessities.
As far as everyone needing a smartphone, or e-mail address, that ship has already sailed. Here in the US, try using "Parkmobile" without a mobile phone.
> That's like saying that using tax dollars to pay for roads assumes that everyone has a car.
Well once the government subsidizes roads they proliferate it and becomes more difficult to exist without a car. Your example supports my argument.
>try using "Parkmobile" without a mobile phone.
I would never, ever try using "parkmobile"
They are hard to avoid. Where I live in northern NJ the on street parking is all Parkmobile. At the Jersey shore where I go the beach parking lot is Parkmobile. Just got back from Tampa - more on-street Parkmobile (ditto Clearwater & Sand Key, incl. town-owned public beach access lot).
No doubt you can avoid it if you really want to, but they seem to be everywhere.
My city's public parking lots, garages, and street parking use Parkmobile to collect payment, and AFAICT that kind of arrangement is not terribly unusual. I suppose anti-parkmobile drivers could stick to the few overpriced privately-owned lots in town, though.
If you're saying that you don't drive, then congrats, and I hope to catch up to you soon.
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That's a good call. They had a databreach[1]—and paid out 4x 25 cent in-app credits to the affected people.
[1]https://haveibeenpwned.com/breach/ParkMobile
> Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Science and ICT Bae Kyunghoon said the scheme is needed because citizens can’t do without access to online services
So indeed it actually is intended to make online services necessary.
Parkmobile lets you call their customer service number to pay for parking, so (assuming that process actually works) you would indeed need a mobile phone, but not a smartphone.
> that ship has already sailed
"Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you what you are."
Anyways, if you actually just say, "I don't have a smartphone" you'll be surprised at how accommodating the world remains.
> try using "Parkmobile" without a mobile phone
Okay:
https://support.parkmobile.io/hc/en-us/articles/368547636077...
Was that supposed to be impossible?
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I feel like you are applying a US specific/ western lense to this. In East Asian countries they’ve built lots of infrastructure around that presumption already and are committed to it.
Communication access is a universal need and does not necessarily require smartphone usage. The US has had universal access programs since at least the mid 80s
Everyone should have a smartphone, just not necessarily a closed down and enshittified one.