Elon is always obsessed with WeChat’s model. (For those who don’t know about WeChat, it is basically the name of the ‘Everything app’.)
Everything in one single point is pretty convenient but has led to a bunch of risks…
Leave a risk that you know in the comment.
Convenience and marketing will always win at the end. We’re heading that way anyway. People use Apple Pay and Google pay and don’t think for a second what it means. Other forms of ID are going that way too. People want ecosystems without having to lift a finger. Just let big brother take care of everything.
What, you want to talk privately? Use cash? What do you have to hide?
On the other hand, Google/Apple Pay are both pretty great products that replace a horrendous legacy payments system. Recall that for like 40 years the most innovative consumer payment system looked like this. And it was essentially a duopoly as well (Visa/Mastercard).
At the end of the day, cash is still a thing as well.
Well, some countries indeed still commonly use payment systems from 50 years ago. That’s pretty bizarre. I remember hearing about PayPal 20 years ago, how revolutionary it is, and I didn’t quite get what the big deal is. That’s because all around Europe we had secure online payments (secure against theft and such, not against the bank snooping) since the late 90’s, and chipped cards even earlier.
But anyway yea… In person, cash is king. Let’s keep it alive. Some countries are planning to phase out cash, and that really is only because we’re letting it happen due to our lazyness.
Sure, I use them, but I have a good reason why I started using them. I lost my plastic 3 times in one year. I have a small kid, he’s glued to me, whether it be the market or the playground, doesn’t matter, he’s always with me. He distracts me all the time (aways asking questions), so I just forget to take my plastic sometimes 🤷.
So, even though I was against it, I decided to use Google Pay (now Wallet). I rarely forget my phone (only when I leave home, so it’s at home), plus it’s big and bulky, you notice it missing sooner than a piece of plastic.
If there are any FOSS alternatives, I’d gladly use them, but as far as I know, there are none 🤷.
deleted by creator
Hm, this seems like a good option, the phone wallet I mean. Is this like a special case of some sort? Cuz I have an armor case for my phone and I’d like to keep it that way, cuz I also drop my phone… a lot 😒.
😅
You can buy fairly bulky leather cases with place for your entire wallet, with a flip screen cover, and that will probably protect the phone even better than an armor case. Or something else… If there’s one product there’s no shortage of, it’s phone cases. Especially if you have a popular model.
Exactly what I use and it works well!
deleted by creator
Aw, man, thanks, this might be exactly what I was looking for ☺️ 👍. Don’t mind if the case breaks either, I can always fix it or just order a new one.
That’s my point tho. I get it that technology can be complicated and not everyone can, wants or needs to learn everything relevant about it.
But the way it works out at the end, is that someone figures out to solve some truly trivial problem, and in the process siphons all your data and choices away.
Oh no, I can’t figure out the 3 buttons on a music player. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate listen to all your conversations on an off chance that you want to play a piece of music.
Oh no, I need to raise my hand to turn on the lights. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate control everything in your house via an online service they control and can shut down on a whim.
Oh no, I’m clumsy and keep losing an essential thing. Solution: have a multibillion conglomerate go through all your purchases and identity at all times.
Oh no, my phone has like, 6 buttons. That’s too much for lil ol’ me! Solution: Have two multibillion conglomerates dictate you how to use your tech, which at the end becomes just as complicated yet dumber and 6x as expensive than what we had 15 years ago.
I dunno, at what point is the solution not worth that tiny inconvenience?
You can like, put your payment card in your phone’s case. Heck you can even put bank notes in there.
But there are private and open source alternatives to these things. Home Assistant is the way to go for home automation, same with Apple’s HomeKit (all local communication via your network only)
There are alternatives for almost everything, but most people just want to buy a new shiny thing with the biggest brand name, and click click click agree to everything.
Yeah, this is just stupid, I agree. I mean, I wouldn’t ever use smart devices in my home. Not just because corps gathering data, but because I truly believe this just makes you lazy… well, at least me. And there is nothing worse than being lazy. Everyone is, from time to time, so am I, but getting out of that circle sooner rather than later is what matters, and smart devices just make the process a lot harder IMO.
I wouldn’t say I’m clumsy, I’ve never forgotten my plastic before I had a kid. There are just a lot more obligations and as I said, he thinks the world of me, he’s litelarly glued to me, and the constant questions are distracting, especially when juggling with 3, 4 other things, keeping an eye on him on top, and… well, it just happens 🤷.
It’s not tiny if I have to wait 3 days for the bank to issue me a new plastic, and you rarely have cash in you. I mean, who deals with cash nowadays anyway.
That is an option that another user mentioned and yes, this hasn’t occured to me before, so thank you as well for the suggestion 👍. Will look into finding a case that maybe has room for a card or two in the phone 😉.
So happy end then. But you see my point, sometimes the solution to not give in to the hungry corporations can even be really simple. But the advertisements can drown out everything.
I actually don’t give in that easy. I could have used Google Pay a lot earlier, like years ago. But I didn’t. I even dealt with cash only for the longest time, until some stores just stopped accepting cash 🤷.
I can’t talk about google, but I do recall at launch that increased provacy was a widely touted feature of apple pay. If you’re using a credit card, all of your purchases are tracked, and your credit card provider is able to mine and sell all of that data.
In addition, the merchant can do the same if you use a credit card. With apple pay, your phone anonymizes the number by only sending the merchant an authorization. In addition, apple does not store your transaction info.
If I recall correctly, one of the reasons walmart originally failed to implement apple pay at their terminals was their loss of the ability to track customer purchases. They tried implementing some janky thing with qr codes.
Increased privacy in language of these corporations means “the only people who can access all of your data is us, our 50000 partner companies and every their partner company, and half of the governments on this planet that are currently touted as friendly. But nobody else, trust us bro”.
I know banks are shit, but well I have 4 bank cards from 4 banks from 4 countries, and for now, that shit isn’t pooled yet.
Plus I can still use cash, and even leave my phone at home if I wanna buy… Something… Without it being tracked.
The problem of merchants tracking or stealing your card data is mainly in certain countries using banking systems that are 30 years out of date.
Besides, people keep flocking to using all the store chains’ apps and reward cards and whatnot, using their real names and data, so enhanced privacy in that regard is moot if people don’t care in the first place.
I also don’t recall any talks about giving banks nonstop access to all our IDs and car keys and other stuff that’s slowly creeping into phones, or rather into the hands of the handful big brother entities.
But the payment systems are just one thing that came to mind, it’s not the only problem with these ideas.