131–140 of 294 posts
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Not an appropriate comment for HN. You should read the guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
I know the guidelines. I decided to break them to get my point across, at the cost of this throwaway.
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I know the guidelines. I decided to break them to get my point across, at the cost of this throwaway.
Except you haven't really to almost anyone because now your comments are flagged dead and most people don't have showdead on.
Well, that's on them. Lots of valuable comments get flagged.
You have a point though. If snobbery and walking in eggshells is what's valued here, why waste my time?
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But that's the point: people will not be able to buy a loaf of bread if they don't meet with the system's approval. Look, I switched to completely contactless payment through my phone since Covid, and it's so convenient I'm not going back. And it's hard for me to imagine people who don't have access to a bank account or smartphone, but those people do exist, and they may eventually become unable to buy a loaf of brea…
>But that's the point: people will not be able to buy a loaf of bread if they don't meet with the system's approval. ... Seriously, your argument is that privacy violations will cause people to starve? not the fact that there is a currency monopoly and you can't issue your own currency and start your own regional economy from scratch if the currency is concentrated in the hands of rich people and hence cannot be used…
But then my home country starts a war (which is terrible), and since the war was not approved by countries controlling the cashless technologies, immediately all my cards stop working, I am not allowed to get a new one anywhere in the world, my foreign currency bank accounts and retirement savings on brokerage accounts get frozen indefinitely.
Make sure you keep enough cash and cryptos for a rainy day.
Australia's been cashless for a long time now and has no laws requiring acceptance of cash so a lot of places are cashless only. Even the old lady who has a tea and snack cart at the train station is cashless here. I'll state some benefits: Public transport becomes much better. You tap your card or phone and never bother with the hassle of a ticket ever again. You probably never realized just how much of a barrier th…
But the main consequences of central control are universal to any political system. Law enforcement and organizations in general are corrupt everywhere to varying degrees. You're probably more likely to be harassed because some random employee doesn't like you (or "likes" you too much), for a random reason, and not because of some large political intrigue. Consider this in a system with no recourse and accountability, and where you cannot know that you are targeted or why (see getting explanations for bans from banks or internet corporations).
For example, currently payment processors seem to have a reputation for being pro-consumer. I'd be interested in how this persists long term in a truly cashless society.
[0] I came to avoid the word 'privacy' for basic rights discussions, because it also seems to facilitate trivialization.
New Zealand has gone largely cashless (and entirely chequeless). Everyone is paid by direct credit to their account. You pay your bills via direct credit / debit. I don't think any bank is charging fees (for customers) for electronic transactions via card, or direct credits/debits. They don't even charge a fee for using another bank's ATM anymore. I am always amazed at how often people in the US mention cheques. NZ r…
> I am always amazed at how often people in the US mention cheques. Banking in the US is like going back in time 20 years. Even when I flew through Dallas and LAX during the height of COVID I had to hand my credit card over for someone to swipe, then pickup a pen that thousands of others had touched to sign a piece of paper. I've been tapping to pay exclusively for years and forgot about all that ancient stuff.
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In a cashless society there is a lot of information about people in few hands and you never know how this information will be used now or in the future. It can be a democracy or a dictatorship. The corruption is everywhere, the threshold is different.
That is completely incorrect. In cashless payment systems like GNU Taler customers are anonymous while only merchants e.g. recipients of payments are not anonymous to comply with anti money laundering and income transparency for the purpose of taxes.
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I always love these strong opinions about Australasian responses to Covid, and how they tend to significantly differ from the opinions of the people who live in that country. Something about it really riled some segments overseas up, to the point they were frothing at the month claiming Australia had concentration camps, and NZ was a socialist hellhole. You're right about the Australian government's obsession with su…
So your response is a strawman argument? Where did I mention concentration camps? I'm referring to UN Human Rights charters, of which Australia is a signatory.
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How is an electronic record of a transaction any worse then being filmed by multiple cameras as you walked in to buy that bread? In my country, a warrant is required to access both sources of data.
It's an exceptionally flexible and convenient method of control. Earlier this year, donors to the truck convey protest in Canada had their bank accounts frozen. This wasn't a targeted list of "these 37 people have broken a law"--rather, it was a broad mandate to freeze accounts assocated with the protests, operationalized a bit differently by each bank. In a society where most businesses don't take cash anymore, this…
Cash doesn't prevent this entirely though, unless you have all your cash under a mattress.
You get used to it. People actually give me discounts for cash frequently, particularly small businesses or individuals. Saves them up to 5% fees on stripe/square.
It has major benefits when dealing with service workers. You tip well in cash on the first drink and they prioritize your table all night even when places are slammed because you are not a tip gamble like everyone else, and they likely get away with not reporting most of it to management.
I do carry visa gift cards purchased with cash for the rare vendors that refuse cash directly in captive venues where no other choice exists like concerts.