Is lack of software freedom a valid reason for refusal?

[Adonay Felipe Nogueira]

Yeah, SMS or even XMPP should do the trick. ;)

Paul Boddie <paul at boddie.org.uk> writes:

>
> Even some kind of SMS payment would be reasonably acceptable, but I guess the 
> money is all in "apps" these days. (Actually, there is apparently money in 
> sending SMS messages, but that's another story.)
>
>
> The challenge for us is to figure out how to formulate such demands for fair, 
> accessible and usable infrastructure. It has been a struggle to get the 
> message across in other areas.
>
> [...]
>
>
> A friend of mine mentioned having her public transport ticket checked, which 
> was in her case accessible via a specific "app" (of course), and when she told 
> the inspectors that it was taking a while to come up on screen, the remark was 
> made that maybe she should "get a newer phone". I can think of several 
> responses, some very impolite, others wondering whether ticket inspectors make 
> so much money that they can regard having the latest gadgets as some kind of 
> civic duty.
>
> One problem is that "apps" are tempting for people offering public services 
> because the hardware involved is somewhat generic, meaning that municipalities 
> (and their corporate entities) can avoid procuring things for specific 
> purposes. In Oslo, they spent substantial amounts eliminating paper tickets 
> with a smartcard system where (1) the readers didn't work, (2) the barriers 
> couldn't be used because of fire regulations, (3) the roll-out was so slow 
> that the first batch of cards had apparently degraded and were unreliable or 
> unusable, (4) connectivity is required to validate tickets, and (5) they have 
> to issue cards for short-term users like tourists or somehow make the "app" 
> work for them.
>
> With such a background of inept procurement (or demonstrably corrupt, in some 
> cases in the public transport bureaucracy), having an "app" seems like the 
> ultimate answer. But the correct answer is to provide people with the means to 
> access the services, not to burden them with something that they think 
> everyone should have anyway.
>
> Paul
> _______________________________________________
> Discussion mailing list
> Discussion at lists.fsfe.org
> https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
>

-- 
- https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno
- Palestrante e consultor sobre /software/ livre (não confundir com
  gratis).
- "WhatsApp"? Ele não é livre. Por favor, veja formas de se comunicar
  instantaneamente comigo no endereço abaixo.
- Contato: https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno#vCard
- Arquivos comuns aceitos (apenas sem DRM): Corel Draw, Microsoft
  Office, MP3, MP4, WMA, WMV.
- Arquivos comuns aceitos e enviados: CSV, GNU Dia, GNU Emacs Org, GNU
  GIMP, Inkscape SVG, JPG, LibreOffice (padrão ODF), OGG, OPUS, PDF
  (apenas sem DRM), PNG, TXT, WEBM.