Live data from Hacker News

Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

privacy.com

311–320 of 367 posts

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the TWiET podcast made a big deal recently about how chips are finally making their way to their cards. I couldn't help but laugh. IIRC, Norway had those since the late 80s. And in Australia, Paypass/Paywave is near ubiquitous now. I think the US is way behind in their banking infrastructure.

I used to work at the largest merchant acquirer in the US and it's funny to see people claim these features just now making it to the US were signs of innovation lacking within the US. However, the reason these features were necessary outside the US is because the risk model was more severe outside the US; there was no need to implement them here. I have a presentation from Mastercard somewhere from 2006 that showed…

Paywave/Paypass is about convenience, rather than security. It is less secure than chip and pin.

Fraud was a lower risk to credit card companies in America because [1] they were better at detecting and preventing fraudulent transactions, and were better at passing on the costs of fraud to retailers and consumers.

[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/10/ec...

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#313
post #4

Hey HN - Privacy.com co-founder here. I'm really excited to share what we've been working on for the past year and a half or so. We've been neck-deep in payments stuff on the card issuing side (getting a BIN sponsor, ACH origination, etc), so happy to answer any questions on that front as well. P.S. For new users, your first $5 donation to watsi.org is on us :)

With a name like Privacy.com I was hoping to see your use of Google Analytics visitor tracking in your privacy policy: https://privacy.com/#privacy-policy

It isn't there, and disclosing it is mandatory under the Google Analytics T&C's (Section 7 here, it's crystal clear with the language "You must..." https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html )

Can you please add it to your privacy policy? It's one of the first things privacy-conscious users look for when evaluating a website or service.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#314
post #267

I think people are over-thinking this offering a little too much. People who are asking if the company will resist a subpoena, or if all customer data will be irreversibly encrypted, are expecting too much. The main purposes of this product are to be able to mask your marketing data (name, address, phone) to businesses, and to mitigate damage in the event of a data breach (any stolen card numbers are useless). It's n…

I think it's just a sign of the appetite for real financial privacy, which is not possible in the U.S. because of money laundering and "know your customer" laws. There's no such thing as a "prepaid, anonymous credit card" that can't be linked to you as a person.

As a result, USA is not Greece. USA isn't bailing out, USA doesn't have to beg money to Germany or court Putin's protection. Greece has a massive fraud problem, half of the houses aren't finished because of tax schemes, everyone pays everything cash, they have high taxes but their tax money gets laundered into subgroups of people without the projects being built or achieved.

If Greece went to a full-debit-card economy, they would be able to trace who doesn't pay their taxes (hint: everyone and their smugglers) and probably step into the developed world.

But yes, it would be bad for privacy, i.e. it gives the govt power to levy a mandatory tax, for example to increase the wage of the prime minister.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#315
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the footer it also says its accepted everywhere Visa debit cards are, NOT credit cards. That's a huge caveat because debit cards aren't as universally accepted as credit cards.

You can pretty much universally run a debit card as a credit card. It's the other way around that's expensive.

Yes but I want the protection of a credit card. In the uk at least you get a big advantage legally buying things on a credit card.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#316
It would be great if this + other fintech services catered to overseas markets. It's understandable why they don't, but as an expat/nomad, centralizing your banking is a huge pain point. This cohort is only going to grow.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#317
post #268
post #89

Is that something that new? My bank (Itaú, in Brazil) offers this option for some time now. Here(in portuguese): https://www.itau.com.br/cartoes/cartao-virtual/ Or am I missing something? Edit: They launched it in 2002: http://exame2.com.br/mobile/tecnologia/noticias/itau-agora-t... Edit2: Sounds new in the US. This is not supposed to be a bragging/snarky comment. Just genuinely surprised as innovation usually come t…

In Portugal we have had this service for many years and it works regardless of the bank ( https://www.mbnet.pt in portuguese). Most people I know always generate one of these cards for online shopping, it's safer and easier to control.

That's indeed true! Although you still have the limitation of only being able to generate virtual credit cards of the same type of your "parent/real" credit card. For instance, with a Maestro/Mastercard you cannot generate virtual VISA's.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#318
post #268
post #89

Is that something that new? My bank (Itaú, in Brazil) offers this option for some time now. Here(in portuguese): https://www.itau.com.br/cartoes/cartao-virtual/ Or am I missing something? Edit: They launched it in 2002: http://exame2.com.br/mobile/tecnologia/noticias/itau-agora-t... Edit2: Sounds new in the US. This is not supposed to be a bragging/snarky comment. Just genuinely surprised as innovation usually come t…

In Portugal we have had this service for many years and it works regardless of the bank ( https://www.mbnet.pt in portuguese). Most people I know always generate one of these cards for online shopping, it's safer and easier to control.

I wonder if 'ma' would stand for Manuel Alves... that would've been funny :)

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#319
post #310
post #89

Is that something that new? My bank (Itaú, in Brazil) offers this option for some time now. Here(in portuguese): https://www.itau.com.br/cartoes/cartao-virtual/ Or am I missing something? Edit: They launched it in 2002: http://exame2.com.br/mobile/tecnologia/noticias/itau-agora-t... Edit2: Sounds new in the US. This is not supposed to be a bragging/snarky comment. Just genuinely surprised as innovation usually come t…

Disposable and merchant-specific card numbers have been around for decades but never gained much traction. Probably because the meager benefits do not overcome the poor UX.

I think it may be related with more difficulties on tracking what you're shopping (likes) and more hassle on setting them up for every thing you buy (considering disposable virtual credit cards), which more likely will keep you away from buying instinctively and is not the desired outcome.

Re: Privacy – Forget Your Credit Card

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fair, if you're doing something illegal that may result in a subpoena, this is not the product for you. However, that doesn't mean what we're doing isn't meaningful. We just think that you just shouldn't have to share your personal info with a random merchant you want to buy something from. This notion that passing along your billing info is going some how substantially cutting down on fraud is ridiculous. It'…

Hey, I'm all for your service. I was a big user of Discover's one-time card numbers before they went away, just for the peace of mind of not having to worry about having my card number stolen. I will very probably sign up for Privacy and use it. My point was that we have a lot of tinfoil hat crypto currency believers in the audience here tonight, and this is maybe not the panacea they were hoping for - it's not the s…

I hear ya - hope you give us a try :). Would love to get your thoughts!
Post reply on HN