cross-posted from: https://fedia.io/m/Brussels/t/556987

Belgium has adopted an “official” app so that anyone can signal for help, so long as they belong to this exclusive group:

• Must have a smartphone (presumably recent).

• Must be a trusting patron of #Google or #Apple. Consequently,

  • must needlessly buy a GSM subscription and trust surveillance advertisers with the mobile phone number (which in Belgium must be registered to an ID) — even though the app can make emergency contact without phone service… thus imposing a needless cost on users and also causing a #GDPR minimisation breach.

• Must install and execute proprietary closed-source software. Consequently,

  • must trust closed-source software (by #Nextel or #Telenet?)
  • must be ethically aligned/okay with running #nonfreesoftware (which does not respect your freedom)

• Must be willing to leave Tor to access the access-restricted 112.be website.

This is a example of a public sector phone app is deployed in a way that’s encumbered by private sector actors. Belgium really needs a “public money → public code” policy.