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PayPal will use your purchase information and shopping patterns to sell targeted ads
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 29 May 2024
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Privacy Guides
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So... Cash? Cryptocurrency pegged to the dollar?
Cash works, but not for online purchases. I pay for a VPN subscription anonymously with a cryptocurrency wallet app, it's at least as convenient as using PayPal, and unlike PayPal I can be sure there isn't a middleman collecting/selling my transaction data for ads or whatever else. This is a solution that works and exists right now. I know a lot of people really don't like cryptocurrency, but I'd also be ok with some other system that satisfies the same requirements.
To solve the problem instead by regulating payment providers, to begin with you would have to convince governments that are largely in the pockets of these companies to act against them. You would have to get these people to craft a set of laws telling them, "hey, this information you've collected that is on the computers you own and control, don't look at it ok? Also don't do anything with it unless we say it's ok." and then, somehow, actually enforce that. It's taking a system basically made to centrally collect and control information, and hoping that people with an obvious interest in using it for that purpose will play along with retrofitting it to prevent privacy violations. To me this seems like planning for failure when you can instead just use a system that doesn't involve trusting a company with this info to begin with.
I mean, the blockchain is public, so all that data is definitely being mined. It's really just a matter of whether your transaction history can be correlated to you (e.g. bought the crypto through an exchange via credit/debit, or if you're making crypto purchases in a way that correlates strongly enough with your internet traffic).
No, I used Monero, transactions aren't visible. You are right that blockchains are public and there is a lot of mineable data in cryptocurrency generally, but the point is that it is possible to have a system of digital payments with all the privacy properties of physical cash.
Fair, I know about Monero, I just forgot it existed for a sec lol
Wasn't the EU working on some digital Euro? I know it wouldn't help Americans at first but maybe create enough pressure for others to follow.
I kind of wouldn't want a government spying on me with this either, but it would be somewhat of an improvement over both the government and companies spying on me with it.
Been keeping my eye on these guys hoping they can turn the tide: Taler