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‘The tyranny of apps’: those without smartphones are unfairly penalised, say campaigners
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2025
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Smartphone Required (digital exclusion of people without smartphones)
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The point is also in which direction do you think this will move? More app dependency or less? There'll be a point in time where cash won't be allowed and payments are by QR code bank transfer. Some parts of the world have places that completely excluded cash transactions. Once people can't buy basic goods without an app it'll be too late to start caring about app-led population exclusion.
Indeed it needs to be fought.
I’m with @[email protected] in that I oppose surviellance advertising anyway, so if the loyalty tracking were taking place without a special app (e.g. scanning a bar code from plastic/paper), I would still not register.
how to hit back (when there is a smartphone-free loyalty program)
In some cases we can do better than Doug. E.g. grab a paper loyalty application form (if they are available), scan the barcode or QR code, return the blank form to the top of the pile. Someone else will activate that bar code with their personal details later. You can regenerate the barcode, store it on your phone (which need not be subscribed to GSM service), or print it on paper, and use the barcode for discounts (& pay cash of course). You obviously corrupt their surveillance advertising DB and also get the discounts.
Win-win for me. But I guess it’s questionable to what extent the DB is being corrupted. My own purchases are still aggregated together which supports advertising. OTOH, it’s all aggregated to a different person, which to some extent corrupts the info. It’s unclear if this is overall more or less harmful to advertising.
how to hit back (when a loyalty program is smartphone-only)
Ideas? Perhaps we could create a barcode-sharing platform whereby some people take a hit for the team and register, then share their barcode for others. The volunteer would at least gain the benefit of their data being littered with data of other people.
I avoid the grocery stores that have 'loyalty programs', but when I'm there I always eagerly tell the cashier I'd like to sign up. They give me the blank paperwork and the discount, and I toss the paperwork in the trash on the way out.
Does it mess with the database. Well, I hope so, but for me the point is only to get my grocs at a slightly less rip-off price. Mostly I go to old-fashioned businesses that make money selling whatever they sell, not selling my data.
I have that option but it leads to other problems. The grocers who are so small that they have no loyalty program have a different problem: they have limited choice of brands for their small spaces and they tend to choose poorly. E.g. a small store close to me only has Kellogg’s-branded cereal, which I boycott. Their soaps are all Unilever or Proctor & Gamble. They choose the most popular brands for a lot of stuff. So to practice my boycotts against (probably hundreds of) brands requires a store big enough to carry generic nonames.