Re:WeChat and the Surveillance State
by codedokode on Saturday June 08, 2019 @10:05PM
(#20136551)
Yes, cash can be stolen, but cards are much more dangerous to your privacy: bank knows where you go and what you buy, it can sell this information to anyone (of course, with hashing your phone number with military-grade algorithm to protect your personal data), shops know who you are and can exchange information about your purchases along with model of your face taken by the camera at the register, MAC address of your phone's WiFi module and car plate number (of course hashed with military-grade algorithm to protect your privacy).
Also, in some countries it is very easy to lock person's bank account even without a trial, for example if person is suspected in financing terrorist or extremist organisation.
Also new cards have RFID chip in it and it can be used for example to get information about people going through the doors.
- it needs to be manually reconciled at the start/end of each shift
- staff can steal it
- robbers can steal it
- it takes time to count out change (and to ensure you have enough small bills and coins)
- it takes time to deposit it at the bank
- it costs money to deposit it at the bank (even if Walmart is ok accepting cash for an iPad, I'm guessing Apple requires Walmart to pay by bank transfer)
I'm not sure about the US situation but, the last time I checked, UK banks charged 0.3%-0.5% for accepting a cash deposit from a business customer.