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this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Privacy
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This is a non-post, as it doesn't even bring its own analysis to the table. What are the valid concerns against card payments? What is so great about cash?
The convenience of card payments heavily outweighs the (i assume privacy) concerns. So what if anyone knows I stuffed myself with an unhealthy amount of chips? I keep my cash for things that don't accept other ways of payment, like bus fare and my drug dealer.
I see your point, though. It isn't solely applicable to this issue; any discussion is mudded by disagreeing just for the sake of rejecting anything anyone with an opposing view on a distinct and unrelated subject.
I agree electronic payments are more beneficial than harmful. In terms of privacy in the mass surveillance world we live in, using cash just forces the watchers to use your cellphone data instead. I think privacy these days is mostly about living an uninteresting life.
In the UK buses and taxis increasingly take cards, and are phasing out cash. Same goes for shops. Having a card becomes the norm because it's less fiddly and more convenient - great!
To open a bank account you need a fixed address and proof of ID in the form of a passport or driving license.
In the last year several thousand people have had bank accounts closed under the presumption of being a "politically vulnerable person", one example was a teacher who went to volunteer in Ukraine for while.
If your bank account is overdrawn you get fees and are unable to use your card.
My mother is 85 and doesn't understand ATMs, never mind online banking. The decreased access to cash has left her confused, and when stressed she can't remember her pin number.
So, the most vulnerable in society are gradually being squeezed out of the ability to live day-to-day thanks to cash being phased out ... the same is a desirable end-point for many capitalists elsewhere in the first world because they don't see the value of people on the bottom rung.