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 It is not possible to avoid private services because the entire telecommunications network is private. The distinction that you are after might be regulated versus unregulated services but the reality seems to be that government services should be provided by multiple means to accommodate the wide range of ways people communicate.
it seems that the Dutch government is already doing that; they just haven’t effectively told you the options.
Brendan Jones
Marty Fouts