The rise of Mastodon has made me so much more aware of government services requiring us to use private companies’ systems to communicate with them and access services.
Sitting on a Dutch train just now I was shown on a screen “feeling unsafe in the train? Contact us via WhatsApp”.
What if I don’t use WhatsApp? (I do, but I wish I didn’t have to) I’m forced to share my data with Meta to use it.
Public systems should not require use of private services.
@Brendanjones #Tennessee Bureau of Investigations Amber Alerts show up as https://tbi.pub/alert that leads to a Facebook page, where, if one doesn't have the app or an account, one is forced to close the nearly full screen (on a small cell phone) dialog before being able to see a barely legible screen shot of a part of an infographic. Sure it looks fine on a desktop or my unfolded Pixel Fold, but YMMV.
Why not just use https://www.tn.gov/ and cross post to Facebook?
Brendan Jones
Mark Crocker