ciferecaNinjo

There’s a non-profit telecom provider who just formed in Feb. Instead of the profits going to shareholders, it goes to a pool of money where customers vote on good causes to send the money to. Seems like a great idea.

I think pricing is like €6/month, plus 0.40 €c/gb for data.

They are an MVNO riding on top of Base/Telenet.

A search on [email protected] does not find that community, but it finds a post where I can reach the community in a round-about way:

https://fedia.io/m/[email protected]

So it seems something is broken with the search. I was actually looking to reach [email protected]. Searching also failed for that, so I tried manually forming this URL:

https://fedia.io/m/[email protected]

That gives a 404. It feels like a chicken-egg problem. Once I subscribe to it, it would probably be federated and perhaps searchable. But I can’t seem to reach it to subscribe without a subscription.

I’ve never been to Tomorrowland (crazy ticket prices) but I tune in to the “One World” Tomorrowland DAB radio station (216.928 MHz). There’s a lot of shouting into the microphone “Are you ready? Make some noise!” “put your hands in the air!” “are you having fun? ... Iyyye caaaaan’t heeear you!” etc. That kind of shit downgrades the experience. Raves traditionally did away with an MC -- just music non-stop, so people can lose themselves in the music, slip into an altered state and stay in the trance. It’s the DJ’s job to drive enthusiasm soley with music, not with commands over a microphone. Mic chatter interrupts altered states. When festivals get big and highly commercialised, they tend to lose sight of that.

Can any Tomorrowland partiers confirm.. is there a lot of microphone chatter or is the “sounds of Tomorrowload” radio program more of a small isolated area that doesn’t really reflect the event?

Nonetheless, when I hear the amazing tunes during sets, I still wish I were there.

Digi is a new ISP who recently drilled into façades of people’s homes without notice or consent. Anyone registered with BIPT as a telecom operator does not need consent for the act of attaching their cable to the façade, but they are required to inform home owners before the work and obtain consent on the way that they run the cable.

Digi simply showed up unannounced with workers in plain clothes who drilled into façades spontaneously. Digi also neglected to say anything about it after the fact.

Proximus and Digi both neglected to give advance notice when they did this. Proximus at least left a letter in mailboxes stating what happened and offered free installation of service.

Both Proximus and Digi are also exclusive services. That is, they do not accept cash payments and thus exclude unbanked people (~3% of the population). It’s extra evil on the part of Proximus because they have physical shops all over which obligates cash acceptance and could serve that purpose.

There is in fact no law obligating Belgian telecom operators to offer service to those whose properties involuntarily host their cables. They can be as exclusive as they want.

And worse, home owners who renovate their façade have a legal obligation to send bPost registered letters to each and every cable owner who uses their façade -- currently a hit of €10 per letter. So if there are 7 cables attached, you are effectively legally obligated to spend €70 to give advance notice before working on your own façade.

Does it have to be this way?

No, because they can run their fiber under the sidewalk. They choose to uglify people’s façades to save money. As such, the law effectively strips the people of their bargaining power. In principle, the ISPs should need to entice consumers with a deal that passes some of the savings of using façades onto them. If you have a strip of terraced houses and one house does not take the deal, then it’s not a problem. The sidewalk just needs to be dug up for the house that refuses the offer.

If you look around, sometimes you will see a terraced house that has buried the cables, perhaps because they want a nice looking façade.

This could even be fixed going forward. In principle, every sidewalk will eventually be dug up again, by Vivaqua doing what Vivaqua does. Such moments would be a good opportunity for telecoms to move their cables under the sidewalk, coordinated with whoever digs up the sidewalk for other purposes. Thereafter, homeowners would not have to send 7+ registered letters every time they need to renovate their façades. But our rights and that opportunity has been squandered.

A ban on the installation of oil-fired boilers will come into force in Brussels on 1 June, meaning that old oil-fired boilers may no longer be replaced with the same system, unless an exception is granted.An estimated 5% to 7% of heating systems in Brussels still run on fuel oil (mazout), often with appliances that are more than 25 years old.The new regulation applies to all types of buildings, according to Brussels Environment.It was finalised in 2021 as part of the Air, Climate and Energy Plan and is in line with European targets to phase out the use of fossil fuels.The new rule comes on top of ones for wood-fired heating that came into effect on 1 January, which require that only wood-burning stoves and furnaces (logs, pellets, briquettes) that comply with the European Ecodesign Directive may still be installed.The installation of second-hand stoves is also prohibited from now on, and owners of an old-generation gas boiler or water heater (also known as an ‘atmospheric’ boiler) connected to a collective chimney must carry out a feasibility study to determine whether it can be replaced by a more efficient appliance. Installation on individual chimneys has been prohibited since 2019.Atmospheric boilers account for 26% of gas heating appliances in the Brussels region.The installation of natural gas boilers in new buildings or equivalent projects is also prohibited under the new measures, unless an exemption is granted.Other changes across Belgium that will come into effect on 1 June relate to products intended for the special dietary needs of babies allergic to cow’s milk protein. These products will be partially reimbursed from 1 June.Every year, about 4,800 children are born with an allergy to cow’s milk protein, making it one of the most common food allergies in children under the age of three.An appropriate diet, free from cow’s milk protein, is essential to ensure that infants are spared the unpleasant symptoms of this allergy during their early years, but some allergy-safe products are expensive.The reimbursements are intended to help families bear the cost.Another change for June is that paper service vouchers will disappear in Flanders. Service vouchers (dienstencheques) issued by the Flemish region will only be available in digital format from 1 June.Paper vouchers already purchased can still be used for up to one year after the date of order.The previous Flemish government decided in 2023 to phase out the paper version of service vouchers.Users will receive a letter explaining how to order and use electronic service vouchers and a helpline will be available to assist them.Currently, 9% of customers of the issuer Pluxee still use paper service vouchers, while 91% prefer the digital version.The new digital system also has advantages for domestic workers, who no longer have to fill in paper cheques or run the risk of losing them.Paper service vouchers will still be available in Wallonia and the Brussels region, where abolition is not on the agenda yet.

Shared bicycle and scooter hire firm Lime has removed all of its 6,000 vehicles from the streets of Brussels, after its licence expired and a request to extend it was refused.In 2023, the Brussels government decided to cap the number of shared scooters available in the Brussels region at 8,000 - down from 20,000 - introducing compulsory "drop zones" for the vehicles following complaints about haphazard parking and blocking of pavements.At the time, the capital had 20 scooters per 1,000 inhabitants - while in Paris, for example, the figure is five scooters per 1,000.Bolt, Dott and Voi were selected to be the capital's only scooter hire firms. Lime challenged the decision in court and obtained a temporary reprieve in early 2024, with the Council of State ruling that the firm could continue operating for the remainder of its licence, which expired this week.The firm had asked the Council of State for an emergency ruling allowing it to keep operating, but this was refused.Lime said its retreat from the Brussels mobility market was temporary. While access to the Lime app in Brussels is now disabled, it hopes to resume soon.The Council of State still has to make a ruling on whether the Brussels government followed correct procedures when it decided which scooter hire firms to retain."The Council of State has not yet resolved the case in depth. We are standing firm," Lime said in a statement.According to Lime, if the court rules that the selection procedure was flawed, the scooter hire firm could be entitled to claim damages from the Brussels government."In our opinion, there is a lot wrong with the quality of the regulation and the transparency of the selection procedure,” a Lime spokeswoman said."Based on the four interim reports we have received, we are already in a strong position. Both the regulations and the tender procedure and decision for the operators show serious irregularities and are in danger of being considered illegal."It is regrettable that the Brussels region did not come up with an interim solution, because if the Council of State decides in our favour, we will have to claim for damages."It is not yet known when the Council of State's verdict will be delivered.Brussels mobility minister Elke Van den Brandt said: “All companies in the sector have long publicly defended the need for a clear and fair regulatory framework for micromobility."It would be disappointing if one of the non-selected operators were to disregard the rules of the game and behave like a sore loser."

It’s disturbing to hear the UK is /again/ changing the banknotes (according to BBC WS). Does this in any way shorten any deadline to trade-in the previous notes? Will it be possible to trade in notes that are 2 generations old?

I have a couple thousand GBP banknotes. These are the previous style and no longer legal tender. I would get burnt if I tried to exchange them for my local currency because the exchange service cannot sell them (they must send them to England). I believe I can still travel to the UK and exchange them fairly legal tender at post offices, correct?

Someone who‘s mother tongue is Arabic served me coffee. It had cinnimon and some other flavor -- he said they brew it with meat.

I don’t know exactly where he is from so searches on meat coffee are coming up empty. The cinnimon suggests Morrocco but I find nothing on meat Morrocan coffee. Just wondering if anyone knows about this way of making coffee. I’m only familiar with the reverse: using coffee in food (often grilled meat), not using meat to brew coffee for drinking.

I would like a complete list of Belgian NGOs relevant to:

• human rights
• consumer rights
• privacy
• digital rights and right to unplug

I’m aware of the following orgs. Have I missed any?

Human rights:

• Amnesty International Belgique
• League of Human Rights
• UNIA
• Vlaams Mensenrechteninstituut
• Association pour le droit des étrangers

Consumer rights:

• Test-Achats
• Euroconsumer (possibly dead)

Digital rights, privacy, transparency and the right to unplug:

• 1710.be
• Abelli asbl
• Ateliers DK
• Kids Unplugged (focused on smartphone-free childhoods)
• Neutrinet
• Technopolice (anti-video surveillance focus)
• Tac-Tic asbl
• Yellow Jackets (fights against forced-banking, but apparently a ghost org… no website or contact info)
• EDRi; NoyB (Europe-wide)

(dead ends?)

• Comité Humain du Numérique (possibly dead)
• DasPrivé (possibly dead)
• Datapanik (possibly dead)
• Gang des Vieux en Colère (possibly dead)
• Ministry of Privacy (possibly dead)
• Open Knowledge Belgium VZW/asbl (possibly dead)
• ethicalnet.eu (possibly dead)

I posted this:

https://fedia.io/m/[email protected]/t/2324798/Proliferation-of-gatekeepers-of-physical-buildings-in-Brussels-thwart-access

No errors, looks fine from the fedia side of things. But due to Fedia security issues I am now in the habit of visiting the community directly from outside Fedia to get a direct link (for cross posting in a way that all people have access). Only this time I noticed the post did not appear. It’s in Fedia’s cached version of that community but did not make it there.

(this was originally posted in !right_to_unplug ~~but for some reason it does not show up there~~ it’s there now.. just had a long delay)

In Brussels we are increasingly reaching a point where we can no longer talk to people face-to-face without technical hurdles and blockades. It’s clear why the Gang of Angry Elders are angry.

I simply entered a law office as a prospective customer. The door man said all visitors must register on the touchscreen tablet they had mounted on the desk, which made email and phone number a required field in order to advance to the next screen before submitting the registration. This is in Belgium, where the GDPR has a data minimisation protection in Article 5. You must surrender an email address (likely to a Microsoft user) as a precondition to sitting in the same room with someone.

Law offices, press offices, banks, and NGOs (some of which protect human rights) have put these security gatekeepers in their lobbies to prevent people talking to people. You ask to talk to someone and the response is always “do you have an appointment”? When the answer is “no”, they are helplessly incapable of making an appointment then and there. It’s a new level of human dysfunctionality.

Some Dexia branches have a very narrow time slot for people without appointments. You must get there early in hopes to get a queing position that does not get cut off at the end of the time slot.

The concept of a supplier that is subservient to the customer’s needs has been lost. It has flipped because too many boot-licking consumers are simply willing to be a doormat.

The persistence of CAPTCHAs proves this. If enough people were wise enough to refuse to solve CAPTCHAs, the CAPTCHAs would natrually be discontinued. But CAPTCHAs remain because too many boot-lickers are serving their corporate masters.

In Brussels we are increasingly reaching a point where we can no longer talk to people face-to-face without technical hurdles and blockades. It’s clear why the Gang of Angry Elders are angry.

I simply entered a law office as a prospective customer. The door man said all visitors must register on the touchscreen tablet they had mounted on the desk, which made email and phone number a required field in order to advance to the next screen before submitting the registration. This is in Belgium, where the GDPR has a data minimisation protection in Article 5. You must surrender an email address (likely to a Microsoft user) as a precondition to sitting in the same room with someone.

Law offices, press offices, banks, and NGOs (some of which protect human rights) have put these security gatekeepers in their lobbies to prevent people talking to people. You ask to talk to someone and the response is always “do you have an appointment”? When the answer is “no”, they are helplessly incapable of making an appointment then and there. It’s a new level of human dysfunctionality.

Some Dexia branches have a very narrow time slot for people without appointments. You must get there early in hopes to get a queing position that does not get cut off at the end of the time slot.

The concept of a supplier that is subservient to the customer’s needs has been lost. It has flipped because too many boot-licking consumers are simply willing to be a doormat.

The persistence of CAPTCHAs proves this. If enough people were wise enough to refuse to solve CAPTCHAs, the CAPTCHAs would natrually be discontinued. But CAPTCHAs remain because too many boot-lickers are serving their corporate masters.