WARNING article is based on Italian legislation.
The value of your click is priceless
It has become common practice to install apps and have to re-express consent following updates or changes to contractual terms. But have you ever wondered what happens when, impulsively, you tap the sensitive areas of the screen and grant consents left and right? Some will say, I have nothing to hide, I don’t care, while others, on the contrary, will claim to be very careful and to always negotiate optional consents.
Before reading this article, I recommend you to delve deeper by reading The meal voucher scam.
Edenred app reviews
The Edenred app is accumulating negative reviews on the Google Play Store, which should be a cause for reflection. Many of these reviews focus on service disruptions, from excessive waiting times to access errors. In any case, Edenred seems to ignore the negative feedback, and this does not necessarily reflect an inability on the part of the programmers. In fact, the presence of eight trackers, which at startup must activate a set of connections to servers located in different parts of the world, is precisely part of the development specifications.
The communication with the servers managed by the trackers performs the task for which it was designed: fuck the helpless worker and collecting a huge amount of data outside the agreed consent framework. We are talking about trackers that operate in a context where private companies and public administration, which enter into supply contracts, seem to ignore or pretend to ignore the collection and sale of workers’ data.
Reviews from the Google Store of the Edenred app - The score of 2.9 recorded as of the publication date of the article.
Reviews from the Google Store of the Edenred app.
Tips on how to set up the Edenred app
Here the worker is a subject of the system: they must accept the conditions with no way out. If I choose an app, I must also accept its terms. However, the service applications that manage meal vouchers are based on a welfare regulation, such as the substitute allowance for meals through the issuance of tickets.
The apps perform their function, but it is the regulation that needs to change to protect workers’ rights.
But, in your opinion… if you hadn’t previously given your consent and then, by mistake or for other reasons, you do, which data gets transferred? From the date you gave your consent or from the moment you started using the app?
Don’t forget that data is always collected; as soon as you give your consent, it is immediately transmitted!
They also offer you a choice of playful and friendly-looking avatars. But, in your opinion… didn’t they hire a team of psychologists to make you let your guard down and hypnotize you?
Please, don’t get caught up in the vicious cycle of information designed for you!
Don’t interpret ‘Receive updates’ as an invitation, but rather as ‘How I’m selling you’.
Solution with targeted actions by those who will protect workers
It will be a digital union, a consumer advocacy association that must intervene on multiple fronts:
- Request the deletion of data and initiate a claim for compensation for the damages suffered by workers.
- Change the regulations and hold accountable those who have allowed this situation.
Finally, abolish meal vouchers in favor of a preferential treatment as a form of compensation!