Some may even be oblivious to the fact that the article is from 2004 ;)

Deepfakes weren't even a fever dream yet.

Spam exploded in 2003[1] to the modern experience of it. Before that, spam was somewhat infrequent, even without countermeasures.

I recall in the 2001 time period being so annoyed by each individual spam note that I would respond to the appropriate "abuse@" email. By 2004, it was a torrent and totally impractical, and I don't think it was because of my own notes to administrators.

[1] https://www.emailtray.com/blog/email-spam-trends-2001-2012/

When Gmail launched on April 1, 2004, there were two big selling points for me - storage and spam.

...and search. That was amazing.

I can confirm it was amazing.

I got my first gmail address via an invite and it was light-years ahead of everything else.

Nowadays it's possibly worse than most other providers, and it doesn't filter spam as well as it used to. Nowadays I just dislike it.

I remember the first spam I ever received. It was in 1998 on my first day working at AOL. It promised an advanced degree from a prestigious, unaccredited institution. The spammers were somewhat honest back then.

My brain swapped the second zero to a two... But I did think the 1990 reference a little odd..

Actually, as the patent author of what are now called deep fakes, 2004 was when I got formal in my research to create the tech, with full knowledge of what it has become, and a mission to prevent the Orwellian uses active today.

Back then, we called it "Photoshop"

Or what? The Internet is not required to have a peaceful life.

"Abandoning is not the answer."

Why not? Simpler life like back in the 80s.

Even the 90s and early 2000s! The internet used to be way more endearing back then, with way more individually operated websites, blogs, etc.

Autoplay midis, blink tags, FFFF00 yellow text on an FFFFFF white background, terribly low quality jpegs.

...man, I miss it.

"Under construction" animated GIFs!

Haha, Autoplay midis. I had forgotten that we used to do that.

What a twist that my regret is not that I have spent so much time of my youth on the internet but that I have not spent more time on the internet when it was still good.

Re: Left behind My elderly parents can't even go out to eat dinner in the town they've lived in for 60 years because they don't have the phone app to pay the parking meters in town. So they have to drive out of town to a restaurant with a parking lot.

That’s a shame. We’ve mostly been switched to some app-powered thing in my town as well, but they included some kiosk things as well.

IMO, the apps are quite nice actually and I enjoy not having to ever run out to a meter anyway, but requiring a phone should not be considered meeting accessibility requirements.

You need to download-install an app , enter your info, your vehicle info, your credit card, the location where you’re parking, the time (which is non-refundable/ transferible if you pay too much) to park. Sometimes all this BS takes longer than the time you wish to park, I rather risk getting a ticket or just go somewhere else. All this because cities just lease the operation to 3rd parties.

It is sort of a pain the first time. But once you have it set up, it can be quite convenient (of course, as long as the app is well written and saves/detects the right data, that is!). But yeh, I definitely agree it can be a pain.

And then throw QR code menus into the mix. I'm 35 and I have to zoom so far in to be able to read the menu, which then also involves having to scroll horizontally to fully read most menu items, which makes it easy to lose your place, etc.

Being elderly, the frustration must be unbearable.

Not to mention that at this point, QR codes are vector for phishing. People aren't nearly careful enough scanning those things.

https://www.designnews.com/automotive-engineering/scammers-t...

I'm happy that died around me. QR code menus suck.

Society changes. Smartphones are 20 years old at this point and no longer require you to drop $1k+ up front for one. Should smart phones be required for everything? No. But progress is gonna progress. Who even carries coins with them these days?

Requiring a smartphone isn't progress. Offering the option to use a smartphone is progress.

Yeah it is. The amount of work and bullshit to collect coins from parking meters is beyond stupid when we can do it digitally.

Requiring an app to park my car is beyond stupid.

Putting metal tokens in a bucket is smart?

I prefer that to apps, yes.

Metal tokens that don’t change in functionality at the whims of a random VP at some private company?

Yes. High tech != smart.

The machine can offer credit/debit card payment as well.

Yep. Some rich dude’s company named something dumb doesn’t control my ability to park somewhere .

I can put quarters in the meter.

Yes, that’s correct. Secure, simple, standardized, predictable, robust. Adding a computer to the equation diminishes it in every single way.

You don't always have to optimize for smart.

Using coins or credit card is a far better experience downloading an app.

A nice middle ground is meters that take payment cards. That does exclude people who don't have them but most of those meters take apps as well, and the people who have neither a credit card nor a smartphone probably don't have a car either.

It is annoying though to have to install half a dozen different parking apps for the lots that have partnered with different app providers. It would be nice if public parking lot apps would interoperate.

What’s the difference between requiring users to pay via app vs requiring users to pay via payment card? Both require extra effort / extra knowledge / extra hardware to make the payment, beyond the “default” national currency

I think using a card is friendlier than using an app.

It takes fewer “clicks” so to speak and is more accessible to the elderly.

But anything government which doesn’t require to keep track of a purchaser’s identity should accept cash. Otherwise what’s the point of cash if your own state doesn’t accept it.

> using a card is friendlier than using an app

This is so obviously true for non-tech elderly folk that don't already have smartphones. I can hardly believe it's in question.

Card:

1. Receive free card from bank in mail.

2. Keep card in your wallet/purse which you already take every time you go out.

3. Memorise PIN (the tricky bit, to be fair).

4. Wave or insert card for payment.

Phone app:

1. Either find a phone shop and ask for help, or figure out how to securely buy a smartphone online.

2. Figure out how to set your phone up. This involves a lot of confusing decisions such as whether to create an apple/google account, which services to enable, etc... .

3. Learn how to search for, install, and use phone apps. The parking app will vary depending on where you choose to park.

4. Set up google/apple pay or your card payment details on required apps.

5. Learn how to connect your phone to wifi if you end up parking in an area with internet but no phone signal.

6. Remember to take your smartphone with you every time you plan to drive and park somewhere.

7. Muddle your way through what is often a bloated, ad-ridden app every time you want to park.

> Memorise PIN (the tricky bit, to be fair).

Not even that, for a credit card.

Card—specific info given on a need-to-know basis. App—all info broadcast to everyone all the time, often for sale. Requires hardware, power, data plan.

Everybody even the elderly have debit or credit cards. You have your card, you insert it, and walk away with two hours of parking.

An app often requires some account setup with spam emails to follow.

Shifting work from the people selling something (i.e. parking) to those buying it is not progress from the POV of the buyers.

How a particular change impacts you will, of course, strongly color your perception of it.

If you're someone who always has coinage readily available, forcing you to install an app and create an account on a device you may not have, or be familiar with, plus feeding said app an up-to-date payment method (accompanied by concerns of financial loss) and eating the cost of transaction fees is not going to be seen as progress.

If you never use currency and having coinage on hand is an extra effort, and don't mind installing and using yet-another-app on your current smartphone, then doing away with coins seems much less hostile.

And, of course, if you own/operate parking meters, reducing your own overhead is a win for you, as long as the meters keep getting used enough that your profits go up.

Which ends up actually benefiting the public more, I don't know.

My 2001 car has three little slots at the front inside of the center console for quarters, nickels, and dimes. Holds about 8-10 of each. Plenty of money for the occasional meter or small toll.

Why is it beyond stupid to allow payment using a currency without needing several layers of non-government middlemen (Apple and ParkMobile, for example)

Seems beyond stupid to require me to have an Apple program or a Google program and specific hardware to pay for parking when I can just have the coins in my pocket.

Especially since ParkMobile could just decide not to support the version of android I’m running, so that I’m forced to purchase a new device.

Coins aren’t subject to code rot.

A bonus is that meter toll collectors would have a job.

To a degree, regularly getting coins to pay with is more effort than just having a phone. And these signs always have textable and callable numbers in my experience.

For what it's worth, I always carry cash, including coins. I pay the smallest purchases (like a sandwich) with coins.

I carry coins and preferentially use cash. I'm a male in my 40s and took seriously The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I've narrowed what I use my now-6yo phone for. I know most of my neighbors, and I value mutual aid, participatory democracy, and "public luxury, private sufficiency". Surveillance capitalism sucks- it's unhealthy, and it extracts wealth to people whose intrinsic value is each no better than anyone else's.

My county forcing Microsoft 2FA as the only option for the government entity I work for, in which I'm the youngest by far and we don't accept having to buy a phone just to use an account, reeks of capitalism.

Honestly, I wonder if this is something that could be legally challenged under the ADA. Exclusions due to your age aren't legal and not owning a smart phone is very much an age thing.

fuck those apps though, seriously

if that's true, that's extremely rage inducing. also that sounds like an accessibility violation. which town is this?

Do the signs not have phone numbers on them for both calling and texting?

Counterpoint, my father is very IT literate, at least he was. Managed IT for a large government organisation in Europe, taught me code. Has done his best to keep up over the years.

He's completely useless these days, particularly around social media, but increasingly around everything else. I worry about him.

It's difficult to imagine what it would look like, but I'm increasingly of the opinion the best way forward is a hard break with tech. Minimal engagement outside of what's needed for the daily basics.

It's transparently wrecking our brains and societies. We can't build a better Internet, we need to escape it.