I recently encountered a local policy that made me realize nobody with experiences similar to mine could possibly have been involved in the planning process. In my rural area, the policy went from no permit requirements around burn barrels or home fire pits, to asking everyone to fill out an online form before every use of fire outdoors. The web form required the address, the planned time of burning, a contact phone number, and the full name of the adult in charge. They didn’t mention who would have access to the submitted data, how long it would be kept, whether users would be notified if a data breach leaked their addresses and phone numbers to attackers, what consequences would result from burning without having filled out the form, whether there was an alternative way to get a permit without the form, or what regulations gave them the authority to make the change of requiring it. As a highly online millennial, this made me ask some questions which seemed blindingly obvious:
What about people who lack internet access? How are they to find out about the new requirement, and how are they expected to file for permits when public libraries are shut due to a global pandemic?
What about the form being used to dox people? People in positions of power where they’d be expected to have access to the form’s results aren’t immune to harassing others, and if a victim is staying with a friend to avoid for instance domestic violence, requiring them to link their full name to their current address makes using the form dangerous to them.
What about the form being used to swat people? If some jerk on the internet finds my name and address, they could impersonate me in filing permits and likely have fire services or law enforcement sent to my house if they used the form to claim they planned to burn on a high fire danger day
I have these reactions without personally having lacked internet, or being doxed, or being swatted, because I perceive those threats as “things which happen to people like me”.
Of course I escalated these concerns, and to their credit they’ve fixed many of the issues, but the fact that the policy made it to being publicly announced with all those issues still in it was a shocking reminder of the difference between what authorities assume people want and need, and what I do.
I recently encountered a local policy that made me realize nobody with experiences similar to mine could possibly have been involved in the planning process. In my rural area, the policy went from no permit requirements around burn barrels or home fire pits, to asking everyone to fill out an online form before every use of fire outdoors. The web form required the address, the planned time of burning, a contact phone number, and the full name of the adult in charge. They didn’t mention who would have access to the submitted data, how long it would be kept, whether users would be notified if a data breach leaked their addresses and phone numbers to attackers, what consequences would result from burning without having filled out the form, whether there was an alternative way to get a permit without the form, or what regulations gave them the authority to make the change of requiring it. As a highly online millennial, this made me ask some questions which seemed blindingly obvious:
What about people who lack internet access? How are they to find out about the new requirement, and how are they expected to file for permits when public libraries are shut due to a global pandemic?
What about the form being used to dox people? People in positions of power where they’d be expected to have access to the form’s results aren’t immune to harassing others, and if a victim is staying with a friend to avoid for instance domestic violence, requiring them to link their full name to their current address makes using the form dangerous to them.
What about the form being used to swat people? If some jerk on the internet finds my name and address, they could impersonate me in filing permits and likely have fire services or law enforcement sent to my house if they used the form to claim they planned to burn on a high fire danger day
I have these reactions without personally having lacked internet, or being doxed, or being swatted, because I perceive those threats as “things which happen to people like me”.
Of course I escalated these concerns, and to their credit they’ve fixed many of the issues, but the fact that the policy made it to being publicly announced with all those issues still in it was a shocking reminder of the difference between what authorities assume people want and need, and what I do.