Visa and Plaid Abandon Merger After Antitrust Division’s Suit to Block

Post by TuringNYC » Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 4:36 AM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #159

f430 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when I used to run a web scraping shop, we had this exact request. I didn't know it was illegal at the time but we ultimately didn't do it because lot of people just want to pay as little as possible for scraping without considering the amount of work that goes behind it.

Web scraping is not illegal per se. Though it may be against the specific terms of service of the site you are scraping.

Post by ZephyrBlu » Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 4:40 AM UTC

kripy wrote: post #169

throwaway9980 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure I will be called naive, but this is shocking to me. I assumed that Plaid was integrating with the banks and not doing this sort of thing because of the people associated with Plaid. Their seed round included Spark Capital and Google Ventures. Their most recent round included Mary Meeker and Andreessen Horowitz. [1] These investors have reputations to protect. This type of thing would certainly come out in d…

They're not hiding the fact. From their website [1]: "When you choose to connect your financial accounts to an app using Plaid, you will be prompted to enter the username and password associated with those accounts. Plaid then links your accounts to the app you want to use so you can share your data." [1] https://plaid.com/how-it-works-for-consumers/

Post by ZephyrBlu » Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 4:48 AM UTC

fintechthrow456 wrote: post #207

seanieb wrote: post #75

I’ve some friends that works there, so I’m hesitant to say this, because I’m sorry for them, but Plaid is a terrible company. Their main product scrapes financial data from unsuspecting users that simply think they’re making a bank transfer and not signing away the privacy and security of their banking, 401k and trading information. https://twitter.com/seanieb/status/1298871471645761537?s=20

As someone who's worked in fintech for 10 years, I think this is a bad take. Out of all aggregators (what this is called), Plaid is by far the most open and privacy-forward. First, they're transparent about being a 3rd party that's part of the flow (see https://plaid.com/blog/the-all-new-plaid-link/ ). It's clear it's Plaid, they use neutral colors and not the bank's, etc. They have a portal where you can manage your…

Post by Dwolb » Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 4:51 AM UTC

chishaku wrote: post #122

Dwolb wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe he wanted to tank the deal once they figured out Plaid scrapes financial portals instead of integrates with them.

because you sign a 5b deal and then do due diligence

Post by joshspankit » Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 4:54 AM UTC

throwaway9980 wrote: post #112

smnrchrds wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are getting sued by TD Bank for this very reason: > The bank said in the court filings that the interface "dupes" consumers into believing they are entering personal information into TD Bank's trusted platform. > "In reality, however, consumers are unwittingly giving their login credentials to the defendant, who takes the information, stores it on its servers, and uses it to mine consumers' bank records for valu…

I am sure I will be called naive, but this is shocking to me. I assumed that Plaid was integrating with the banks and not doing this sort of thing because of the people associated with Plaid. Their seed round included Spark Capital and Google Ventures. Their most recent round included Mary Meeker and Andreessen Horowitz. [1] These investors have reputations to protect. This type of thing would certainly come out in d…