151–160 of 253 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> To opt-out from our anonymization of your personal information to perform data analyses, please provide your Mastercard or Maestro payment card number Does this mean you're opting out of the anonymization, but not the collection of personal information? The wording here could definitely be improved.
I suspect the wording is deliberately confusing.
Coincidentally, just earlier today I was looking for one-time-use prepaid cards. I thought I'd buy a few $100 worth cards and use them for pseudo-anonymous transactions. However, all I could find were prepaid "debit cards" (which could be easily tied back to be) our store specific "gift" cards. Curious to see if anyone has a good solution for that? (In the US.)
Potential flaws:
(1) They used to have a bit of overhead (1-5%). Not sure nowadays.
(2) None of that is ironclad anonymity. Don't be an outspoken gay ukrainian hacktivist journalist visiting russia or anything.
(3) Some organizations will only do business with you if they're able to slurp up more data than the initial transaction would suggest to a reasonable person. You can't use prepaid phones to sign up to many online accounts (notably Facebook for a long time) because the site owner can't slurp up your address and other info without certain postpaid plans, and you can't use any pseudo-anonymous card [0] to make transactions at a place that wants to buy your address and purchasing habits from the card issuer.
[0] Solutions like privacy.com might qualify here perhaps, in that you can actually anonymize your name/address/... and still use most of the sites trying to capitalize on that data, but fundamentally that just turns them into a middleman with the same data, and I expect they'll sell out eventually. Plus they have raw access to your bank account and other things you might not want to give out.
You are now the fat chicken, ready to be plucked: You just bought a hammer, now you need nails. From your social media trail sellers can also infer you are somewhat of a dimwit. Hurry, nails are in high demand in your area. But no worries, here is a great offer for you, valid for the next 0.3 hours.
I just can't understand how people have come to accept such erosion of their privacy, ultimately their very own economic interests and agency under the hands of manipulative operators and captured regulators.
What kind of collective inanity allows such social degeneration. Was it always like that? Is there any hope?
Imagine you go to a market notorious for haggling and the company that sold you your wallet monitors all your transactions and reports them to whomever of the market sellers pays most. You are now the fat chicken, ready to be plucked: You just bought a hammer, now you need nails. From your social media trail sellers can also infer you are somewhat of a dimwit. Hurry, nails are in high demand in your area. But no worr…
There will always be a battle between the wants and want nots.
There's an opt-out here: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/vision/corp-responsibility/c...
> To opt-out from our anonymization of your personal information to perform data analyses, please provide your Mastercard or Maestro payment card number Does this mean you're opting out of the anonymization, but not the collection of personal information? The wording here could definitely be improved.
Coincidentally, just earlier today I was looking for one-time-use prepaid cards. I thought I'd buy a few $100 worth cards and use them for pseudo-anonymous transactions. However, all I could find were prepaid "debit cards" (which could be easily tied back to be) our store specific "gift" cards. Curious to see if anyone has a good solution for that? (In the US.)
Coincidentally, just earlier today I was looking for one-time-use prepaid cards. I thought I'd buy a few $100 worth cards and use them for pseudo-anonymous transactions. However, all I could find were prepaid "debit cards" (which could be easily tied back to be) our store specific "gift" cards. Curious to see if anyone has a good solution for that? (In the US.)
Visa vanilla is fairly practical for most threat models. I know some orgs are trying to do more ad targeting via security cameras across multiple stores, but afaik you'll have no problem paying cash for a visa vanilla gift card, activating it online (through a vpn or something if you're worried about that level of tracking), and then using it like a credit card at nearly any brick-and-mortar store and many online ret…
Presumably this is meaning prepaid phone numbers? Also assuming this is likely a US thing? Or I'm misreading it somehow.
Because otherwise, I've always bought my phone cash and buy my airtime and data prepaid (no contract) in both EU and Africa and have never come across a service that restricted my phone number for being prepaid.
There's an opt-out here: https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/vision/corp-responsibility/c...
I ended up creating a “my data” account. I am curious what MC has been collecting across my 2 MC branded cards (one of them is an Apple Card which advertises protecting user privacy). Once I get back that report will be requesting deletion.
Does this mean that Visa, AMEX and Discover don't sell our data? I agree. Just curious if I should be preferring a specific card company.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well the whole credit/lending part isn't even needed. In Europe this is only a marginal thing and most people just have debit cards.
There are advantages to credit. For example, the money remains in your hands until you pay your credit card bill, so if there is a dispute, fraud, or overcharge, you don't have to fight and wait to get your money back. Also, some businesses, such as car rental companies, won't provide services to debit card holders. Also, it's a free [edit: zero-interest, not free] loan (if you pay credit card bills in full); you get…
This almost ruined our vacation. I didn't have a drivers license and my SO didn't have a credit card. I've never had any issues renting cars here in Norway, both with credit and debit card, despite not being the driver.
But not in the US, no no! Credit card had to be on the same name as the drivers license.
And so we stood there, just having exited the plane, our two week vacation turning to dust in our minds as a car was most definitely needed.
After some desperate attempts by us at finding a solution, the manager came by, having noticed the commotion. After some thinking she asked where we stayed. We had rented a place through Airbnb, which turned out to be the solution. Using the zip code from that place, she could register the debit card, and we finally got a rental.