This story is happening a lot and not just in the UK. Transit system uses mobile for payment. Rider's phone dies, is arrested for not having a ticket..
The problem here is responsibility. Nobody is taking responsibility for the whole system so responsibility for the system failure lands on the user.
It is never, ever the user's fault.
The phone maker didn't tell the transit system they could use it for this type of payments scheme (only they did actually). The transit system didn't think about the consequences of a broken phone.
There is actually a simple fix possible: Put a QR code onto the phone case that can be scanned even if the phone itself is dead. This can then be used to provide a 'last resort' ticket if the user opts in to the potential privacy issues (though anticipating these should mean they can be mitigated so as to be no worse than for a paper ticket).
QR code binds to DNS name and a symmetric encryption/authentication key. This provides the necessary bootstrap to obtain needed information.
Alternatively, the user can print out the QR code and put it in their wallet or print it onto a sticker that can go onto the phone.
Over the past 36 months, there has been a change in the wind. Big tech is no longer so popular. We are no longer regarded in the same light as ten years ago. People are starting to see the downside to the brave new world we have imposed on people. If we are going to keep the support of the people, we have to acknowledge and fix the problems we are creating.
Twenty odd years ago, an un-named Apple executive had a temper tantrum in a parking lot after realizing they had forgotten to bring the 240V adapter they needed for the trip. In an instant, they realized that the adapter should work in any country. That is the adapter should actually adapt rather than the human. We need to bring that type of thinking back and apply it to what we have wrought.
Yes, the technical solution I proposed above is based on a Mathematical Mesh technology (BOF Friday, Singapore). But the MathMesh is merely a rebranding of the technologies we should be delivering but for some reason or other failed to provide. It is there to provide an existence proof that we can do better.
