Resistance Update #4
The naming and shaming has begun - now join the fun!
I wish I could manage these every week but…I’ve got three day jobs and at least another two side hustles. So I think I’m doing OK really…but if anybody has any scraps of time to lend a hand on the operation side of this project, please step forward and take your chance to make the world a better place!
Also, many thanks to those who have sent in the odd link or picture so far - everything helps!
News to get us thinking…
This isn’t strictly a story about fighting digital coercion, but it is a reminder that high-level people (albeit with their own special motives) suspect that being utterly dependent on a particular digital payment system might be dangerous. Okay, they’re inevitably thinking about digital solutions rather than something completely analogue, like cash… but at least they see a similar problem to the one we see! (Source language: German): https://orf.at/stories/3420441/
Here’s a reminder (also German), if you needed one, that claiming everything is going to be smooth and convenient with a Digital ID app can be an optimistic over-simplification: https://tirol.orf.at/stories/3344564/
I use the online bank Wise when I go travelling, and it won’t surprise you to learn that they don’t exactly encourage you to grab cash. Using your card is free, blah, blah, blah. However, there has been a tiny step in the right direction….the free withdrawal limit went up by 50 Euros! It’s not enough to get Wise on The Good Guys list yet, but it’s a start!
Check out this ‘reponse from the UK government’ to a previous petition “Ban the use of AI for image, video and audio creation” which got over 12,000 signatures.
The petition itself is a bit niche, but what’s revealing is the economic justification for not fundamentally questioning AI. The ‘we will lose out economically if we don’t cuddle up to AI’ line is absolutely typical of governments everywhere. As usual, no mention of the ‘we may destroy ourselves as a species if we cuddle up to AI’ aspect.
Because most of the world has its head buried in the sand and continues to put every egg of its life in the online/app/phone basket, people may roll their eyes when you tell them of this campaign. They might say you’re considering fanciful, unlikely scenarios and call you a ‘prepper’. Remind them that you don’t need a wild imagination to consider scenarios where the tech has collapsed.
Ask any German train commuter who tried to buy a ticket after February’s cyberattack on the railway ticket system. Hackers are not going anywhere… and now they’ve got AI to help them. But if we have manned stations with paper tickets waiting for cash purchases, what are those hackers going to do? Attack the station? Haha, no - because online criminals are the ultimate cowards. They’re too weak to do real-world crime.
If we at least retain backup systems in the real world, only daring, physically-present, real-world criminals can get at them. I cannot stress this point enough. Because tech utopians never will: they conveniently fail to notice that they have opened honest people up to criminals anywhere on the planet.
Previously, you had to come to my house to rob me, which limited the threat substantially. I’d like inviting all the world’s baddies into my life to remain optional.
Things I’ve done
My UK petition about guaranteeing the right to live offline has over 200 signatures! Any British citizens with whom you could still share the link?
I have made the two pages that are central to the action-first nature of this community! The two pages that give you real-world pointers about what to boycott and what to support. They are rudimentary at this stage, but I have filled them out with a few things to get us started1. Take a look at The Good Guys and The Boycott List.
In addition to making these lists, I’ve also put together an overdue explainer of how I see this team effort (yes, you have been selected!) working. Give it a read!
I have returned to sending my medical bills to the Austrian health insurance people by snail-mail. Since they began insisting on Austria ID in order to do it online, the decision was made for me! This is a matter of principle, solidarity and sending a message.
Handwriting has never been my forte. Nor spelling the nightmare German word ‘selbstständig’…
I recently had an MRI scan at my local radiology place. The institution is now hip and digital, so they don’t give you a report or a CD. You get a little card with a password and you get to log into yet another online platform you never asked for2. For those without the skills and technology - bear in mind that most patients are pensioners - you are supposedly able to hand this card over to an external consulting specialist, who can basically make the account for you and see what they need to see. I’m taking that option on principle when I go to my specialist appointment in May. I shall report back!
Things this community has done
Thank you to the scholar in England who sent me the names of a couple of digital bullies for The Boycott List! But I’m still waiting on the messages from everyone else :( So things look a little thin here. Email via the button below, or check out the Contact page for other ways to communicate!
What can YOU do?
If you’re British, sign that petition of mine! It only takes a minute. Please also share it with like-minded citizens. Multiple people from the same household can sign, as can UK citizens living abroad. You can even do the legwork for others who may be too busy or less technically capable - you just need to punch in a unique email address you can access, so you can click the confirmation link. (Ironic, I know…)
Send me ideas for The Boycott List and The Good Guys list! Look outside your window, or scan your inbox, and you’ll probably get one or two right away. Snap a picture if you can. Sending me a message can be a matter of seconds.
Here’s another one you should sign if you’re a UK citizen: Protect the right to live without a Digital ID
You’ve seen that I’ve been sending actual mail to my local bureaucrats (above). I hope you will join me in flooding your local authorities with physical post: show them just how stubbornly analogue you are! (It’s only stupid until enough people do it…) Send a picture of your envelopes!
You read that Offline Rights 101 article above, yes? Did it make sense? Is it intimidating? Could it be better somehow? You wouldn’t keep that to yourself, would you? Send me your constructive feedback!
Are you Swiss? Oh you lucky thing! Please send me the latest news on E-ID - and vote against it whenever the chance comes!
Is there an essay burning within? Offline Rights is open for guest posts! You could write about how distressed a grandparent has been by digital coercion. You can get philosophical. You can even take some of the many ideas I haven’t yet had time to write about. Get in touch!
There is still this petition by digitalcourage in Germany. I know you signed it already. Today’s challenge is to pass the link on to two people who will do the same! (Ideally you can stand behind them and make sure they do it…)
Back in the UK… this isn’t exactly my focus area but I have it on good authority that there are good reasons to get behind this fight and also this one!
Check out my previous updates for more ideas of things you can do beyond mere reading!
If you are a computer person and want to start thinking about how we make this a searchable thing with dropdown menus, etc, please do. This list is going to get quite big and bulky quite soon…
As ever, the selling point here is digital convenience and ease, as well as security. Translation: we get to do the extra work, save another password and are now responsible for our own security, rather than the health professionals who take oaths about this stuff.