Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 423 posts

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#401

Post by cat199 »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #366
nlperguiy wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, assuming that bitcoin can be tracked and deanonymized, it would. Although, all cryptocoins are a step back. There's no way they could support transactions-per-second necessary. As much as I like cards, I also prefer paying for stuff with cash. In Portugal it is illegal to buy an expensive computer, or high-end computer monitor, or a high-end TV with cash. Similar thing in France. Imagine yourself throwing a din…

I would find more ridiculous (or suspicious) someone carrying 2000€ in cash in this day and age for whatever reason, to be honest. It is clearly a measure created to prevent tax evasion, which in Portugal is a real issue (as in most Southern Europe countries, I'm Italian) http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/may-2016-portugal-named-... . Since, as your parent says, in Portugal cashless systems are convenient are effic…

""" I would find more ridiculous (or suspicious) someone carrying 2000€ in cash in this day and age for whatever reason, to be honest.

It is clearly a measure created to prevent tax evasion, """

this shows the extent to which the banking system has brainwashed us, when 2 people cant conduct a large transaction directly without an intermediary and it seeming 'suspicious'

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#402

Post by latexr »

pjmlp wrote: post #398
latexr wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Portugal it is illegal to buy an expensive computer (…) with cash. A few questions: 1. Are you sure it’s illegal? 2. From what value does that apply? 3. How is that enforced? 4. More importantly, who is in trouble if they do so, the buyer or the seller? I live in Portugal and have different friends that bought different brand computers on different stores on different years, both paid cash, and in no case was th…

Just did a quick search, the limit for cash payments is 3 000 euro. https://www.dn.pt/dinheiro/interior/pagamentos-em-dinheiro-v...

Thank you. For curious non-Portuguese speakers:

  * The article is from August 22nd 2017.
  * It prohibits cash payments for anything (not just electronics) from 3000€ on.
  * For non-residents, the limit is expanded to 10000€, or equivalent in a different currency.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#403

Post by RestlessMind »

dragonwriter wrote: post #124
RestlessMind wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe if EU's laws are widely publicized and proved to be useful in EU countries, then there can be enough political pressure in the US. A tangential, but political relevant point: tech companies are in a particularly bad spot in the US because they are hated by both sides; republicans hate them because they are perceived as having liberal bias while democrats hate them because of tax avoidance, worsening inequal…

> I believe if EU's laws are widely publicized and proved to be useful in EU countries, then there can be enough political pressure in the US. Worked for universal healthcare, right?

If universal healthcare had not worked in other countries, US wouldn't even have received Obamacare. The fact that other OECD countries have good healthcare systems means you have a significant chunk of population who clamors for a better system here and who stops politicians from gutting what we already have. I say wait for 10-15 more years and we will get universal healthcare in the US.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#404

Post by def_true_false »

pgeorgi wrote: post #383
harperlee wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> From a German point of view, a credit card is a downgrade. Not only germans use the german system. When other Europeans go to European institutions that are placed in Germany, we can't use electronic payments. A system established 34 years ago should not be an acceptable excuse for a subpar service. It is a shame (and quite fraud-risky!) to go on a taxi and have to wait 5-10 minutes for the taxi driver to carbon co…

> A system established 34 years ago should not be an acceptable excuse for a subpar service. The system was developed in those 34 years, both on user visible features (EMV card with chip&pin in 2004) and invisible (SEPA Cards Clearing, implemented in 2015). The latter allows any SEPA based participant (and those outside, apparently there's some interest in Brazil) to handle clearing of transactions compatibly. That s…

Considering how widespread accepting cash only is, you'll end up paying more for ATM withdrawals than you save on the lower merchant fees (that is, if the merchant even passes those onto you). Unless you want to carry hundreds in cash on you.

I've also noticed that not many people pay contactless, even when the terminals support it... and the cashiers tend to assume that the card is not contactless for some reason.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#405

Post by pitaj »

abritinthebay wrote: post #389
pitaj wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpopular opinion: information should not be the property of anybody. You don't own your data, you own what it is stored on. Copyright, Patents, and other IP law is invalid application of property rights and nobody should be able to say how anybody uses data they possess with the exception of preemptive contractual agreements.

It’s... an opinion. One that doesn’t make a ton of sense once you follow it through everywhere, practically speaking, but as an ideological point... sure, I get it.

Can you give a few examples of it not making sense practically? I understand the reasoning behind patents and copyright, but in practice they are abused and at this point almost dead anyways.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#406

Post by bokstavkjeks »

pdpi wrote: post #83
djsumdog wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did WhatsApp charge anything? I thought for contracts you needed some kind of actual dollar amount (even $1) for it to be binding? Is that very US-law specific or am I way off here?

For a contract to be binding, you need consideration[1] from both parties. A contract where you give me something for nothing is not binding, we both need to be giving each other _something_. That something need not be money: A contract saying that you agree to give me your house if I give you my car would qualify. Google and Facebook extract enough value from targeting ads based on the personal information we agree…

IANAL, but only consideration is a common law thing, and is not required in the majority of EU countries, provided that I recall correctly.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#407

Post by pgeorgi »

def_true_false wrote: post #404
pgeorgi wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A system established 34 years ago should not be an acceptable excuse for a subpar service. The system was developed in those 34 years, both on user visible features (EMV card with chip&pin in 2004) and invisible (SEPA Cards Clearing, implemented in 2015). The latter allows any SEPA based participant (and those outside, apparently there's some interest in Brazil) to handle clearing of transactions compatibly. That s…

Considering how widespread accepting cash only is, you'll end up paying more for ATM withdrawals than you save on the lower merchant fees (that is, if the merchant even passes those onto you). Unless you want to carry hundreds in cash on you. I've also noticed that not many people pay contactless, even when the terminals support it... and the cashiers tend to assume that the card is not contactless for some reason.

ATM withdrawal typically is free (at the same banking group).

The merchant fees are part of the total cost, so lower fees provide a competitive edge to the merchant. (the listed price also contains VAT, so you pay what's on the sticker, not like in the US)

Aldi (a discount grocery chain) didn't accept _any_ cards for a long time to avoid these extra costs.

In short: the German market situation is rigged in favor of cash, which is "free", which is hard to compete with when you're selling credit card services for a living.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#408

Post by Rondom »

wlesieutre wrote: post #217
tomcooks wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah also no roaming across countries and having aligned ALL phone producers on the micro USB phone charger standard have been really nice news

Is that slowing the uptake of USB-C with its standardized Power Delivery fast charging? What does Google ship with Pixels? The same USB-C fast charger and USB-C cable, then toss in a micro-USB to USB-C adapter for regulatory compliance?

IIRC they threatened to regulate and then manufacturers "voluntarily" agreed to use Micro-USB.

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#409

Post by mr_spothawk »

cat199 wrote: post #401
Kurtz79 wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would find more ridiculous (or suspicious) someone carrying 2000€ in cash in this day and age for whatever reason, to be honest. It is clearly a measure created to prevent tax evasion, which in Portugal is a real issue (as in most Southern Europe countries, I'm Italian) http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/may-2016-portugal-named-... . Since, as your parent says, in Portugal cashless systems are convenient are effic…

""" I would find more ridiculous (or suspicious) someone carrying 2000€ in cash in this day and age for whatever reason, to be honest. It is clearly a measure created to prevent tax evasion, """ this shows the extent to which the banking system has brainwashed us, when 2 people cant conduct a large transaction directly without an intermediary and it seeming 'suspicious'

by that logic, if taxation is theft ==> cash is theft evasion

Re: WhatsApp told to stop sharing user data with Facebook by French authorities

#410

Post by Kurtz79 »

cat199 wrote: post #401
Kurtz79 wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would find more ridiculous (or suspicious) someone carrying 2000€ in cash in this day and age for whatever reason, to be honest. It is clearly a measure created to prevent tax evasion, which in Portugal is a real issue (as in most Southern Europe countries, I'm Italian) http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/may-2016-portugal-named-... . Since, as your parent says, in Portugal cashless systems are convenient are effic…

""" I would find more ridiculous (or suspicious) someone carrying 2000€ in cash in this day and age for whatever reason, to be honest. It is clearly a measure created to prevent tax evasion, """ this shows the extent to which the banking system has brainwashed us, when 2 people cant conduct a large transaction directly without an intermediary and it seeming 'suspicious'

Why someone would risk or be inconvenienced carrying such larges amount of cash in order to carry a transaction is beyond me, and yes, I would find it suspicious.

If you lived in a country where every other week you see in the news some politician caught on camera while pocketing corruption money, you probably would have another viewpoint.

Post reply on HN