Le 22/10/2019 à 16:30, Phillip Hallam-Baker a écrit :
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..
https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/21/boy-handcuffed-police-phone-dies-cant-pay-tube-10956494/?fbclid=IwAR15m1l2V70jKYKxonkpZ05vs8eJcqN5qk-mPF-ozkB4k7E_hXncAApylwk
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.
Sounds reasonable solution, but could be it attacked?
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.
I am not sure how authentication would protect here. What are the
credentials?
On my side, I think the transportation systems (metro, bus, pods) are
places where one wants to move as smoothly as possible. The technology,
under the forms of smartphones, are actually hampering that smoothness,
because of communication latencies and attention drawn to screen. (CPU
latency is not an issue).
The fastest way to get through the transportation system where I live is
to plan it carefully, carry the precise amounts of paper bills ($,
"fermesse") and coins, know the locations of counters, etc. The
smartphone as a magic wand only impedes all that, precisely because of
its universality. It is good to so many other things, that it has
trade-offs for transportation. If one wants a wand, then that would
have to be a smartphone more specific to transportation, which reflects
the battery issue you mention above, and a few others, that I barely
touch upon below.
Consider that the smartphone can get one much information about the
traffic at a station, but the most reliable information (most recent,
most authoritative) is the information displayed on the screens of the
station, or told on a local loud-speaker. In many cases that
information is contradictory to the smartphone's. Why cant the
smartphone talk to the station's display or listen to these local speakers?
Consider that the smartphone is what might get one injured, if one
listens to its audio while walking astray on road spaces dedicated to
cars. The Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones are very good while
flying between continents, but are very risky to their carrier safety,
completely ignoring electric cars who, for their part, are mandated by
legislation to _add_ sound to their silent engine. Why dont smartphones
implement V2X technology?
Alex
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.
