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A short conversation with a bank

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Re: A short conversation with a bank

#91
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s a service that is not blocked in the EU you can often send a GDPR request to have your data deleted. https://www.datarequests.org/generator/

If it’s a service that is not blocked in the EU you can often send a GDPR request to have your data deleted. https://www.datarequests.org/generator/ The sorts of companies that don't have an online mechanism to delete your account are the same kinds of companies that have never heard of, or don't care about the the GDPR.

Actually, it's exceedingly common with typical RDBMS that deletes are highly deleterious and time costly transactions to process die to locking database tables for a copious amount of time, bringing the system to a screeching halt. This is why general practice is to modify the the data in place and leave it there in an OLTP system.

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#92
> with Gmail, where you were so aggressive about mining receipt data from Amazon that when I get a receipt from Amazon now it doesn’t actually include what I bought because Amazon are terrified you’ll use that data to profile me and sell more ads

I'm curious if Amazon uses different formatting depending on the recipient's email address?

I use Fastmail and checked my order confirmation (not sure if that is the same as a recipt) from a recent order, and it does not list the item I bought. However, at the bottom it does have a "Customers Who Bought Items In Your Order Also Bought" section which lists a couple similar items to mine.

Do they still have that on the ones send to gmail?

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#93

Not directly related to the title, but further in the article: > newly minted MBA ex-consultant who’s just started working at Dropbox as a product manager: and here is my presentation about why it is imperative for us to expand from file synchronization and, for some reason, password management, into financial service integration through our automated financial information archival tool, and then ultimately into fina…

Well, I suppose the devil's advocate argument is once you get to this stage (publicly traded company), the company's priority is no longer just "do things to get traction", but also "do things to support share price". You could argue the ex consultant MBA type product manager is better suited to solve a problem that institutional investors run by ex finance MBA types have.

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#94
post #92

> with Gmail, where you were so aggressive about mining receipt data from Amazon that when I get a receipt from Amazon now it doesn’t actually include what I bought because Amazon are terrified you’ll use that data to profile me and sell more ads I'm curious if Amazon uses different formatting depending on the recipient's email address? I use Fastmail and checked my order confirmation (not sure if that is the same as…

This one annoys me a lot, and I blame Amazon. They seem to think that my purchase data is a monopoly for them to sell me ads on. And to be anti competitive, they have completely screwed up the UX for customers.

"Hi, it's Amazon. We have shipped your order #udid. But you need to sign in to the app on your phone, and click through multiple screens, to figure out which item it is. Because you know, it's a $35 billion ad business for us."

What happened to Amazon always being consumer first?

Update: If Amazon offered a setting ("display item details in email?"), I would have no complaints. They can default to opt-out, and give it some self serving Apple-esque bullshit name like "Protect your data from third parties", I would be okay with all that.

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#95
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Exactly same as with paper ones, but with fewer steps. Actually with more steps. Paper statements: Bank generates paper statement on appointed day (work/time input by bank) Bank packages paper statement in envelope and mails it (work/time input by bank) Postal service delivers paper statement to my mailbox (work/time input by postal service) I open paper statement (work/time input by me) I scan paper statement (wor…

On the bright side, now that you have step by step instructions for what needs to be done, you can hack together a script that will take you more time than doing that process manually would have for the rest of your life, but once you do you won't have to do it ever again.* *unless the bank changes something about their email/website/pdf and that breaks the script

Or, perhaps more likely, a third party "security" department contacted by the bank implements some AI-backed system that notices your program scraping data and freezes your account.

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#96

A short conversation with Blue Shield of California last month: BS: Have a question? Ask us via this very useful secure messaging form! Me: Great! Can you explain the difference between these two arcane out-of-pocket limits that you display that are un-Googleable and nowhere in your documentation that I can never find anyway? BS: Sure! We will wait two days and then send you an email suggestively titled "a response t…

> go bankrupt /../ the wrong doctor at the right hospital

This is the real problem. If we could solve that, none of the rest would be an issue.

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#98
post #54
post #31

I've recently been going through my password manager and closing inactive accounts. 9 out of 10 websites don't have a "close account" function, you have to talk to the support. Unfortunately these conversations are often similar to the ones in the article. You get to talk to 5 different agents, you receive a confirmation your account is closed but your login credentials still work, eventually your login credentials b…

If it’s a service that is not blocked in the EU you can often send a GDPR request to have your data deleted. https://www.datarequests.org/generator/

I mean, technically speaking, actually deleting data without physically destroying the drive is pretty hard, especially with transistor-based dead storage !

I've always wondered whether GDPR just closed their eyes on that, or if it was so that the process of later restoring data was flagrant enough that it would be hard to hide upon inspection...

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#99
post #37

“customer service agent: would you be able to participate in a customer satisfaction survey to provide feedback on how we did after this call? you: if I don’t give you a good rating in this survey will you get fired? customer service agent: yes” This particular aspect of modern society really bothers me

If I do those I just give glaring reviews so as to possibly relieve some small bit of human suffering.

I think you mean glowing

Re: A short conversation with a bank

#100

> with Gmail, where you were so aggressive about mining receipt data from Amazon that when I get a receipt from Amazon now it doesn’t actually include what I bought Wow, he's right. The item name no longer appears on emailed receipts I receive from Amazon as of about late 2019 or early 2020. I can't think of a plausible explanation for this change other than preventing Google from pilfering your detailed purchase his…

Cannot reproduce - my emails from Amazon have the subject "Your order of X" and contain a link to X.
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