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Re:Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for? by pjc50 on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @07:56AM (#30345817)
> even something as crucial as a banking service

Interestingly the problem of people excluded from the banking system has been addressed by statutory regulation in the UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/basic-bank-account... ; see also discussion at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldfi... which covers the question of people with inadequate ID.

Getting your email account wrongly banned is an injustice, whether trivial or costly, and whether or not you have alternative arrangements. That's why people are (generally) rightly cross that it's happening. That feeds into wider questions of "why is justice so expensive" and "how does a local justice system address the bad behavior of a multinational". These questions tend to get resolved incredibly slowly.

Re:Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for? by Grustaf on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @08:02AM (#30345866)
Good to hear that you have protections around this in the UK. I know that in Sweden several political, and even ideological organisations have had their accounts frozen because of things they said or held true. Entirely legal things I should add.
Re:Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for? by foxfluff on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @08:37AM (#30346188)
Notice the difference between organizations and private individuals (which the quoted UK regulations seems to protect). I don't know if it's EU wide but Finland also requires banks to provide service to private individuals.
Re:Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for? by pjc50 on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @10:17AM (#30347522)
The rules only apply to bank accounts, and there are still circumstances under which they can be frozen, but "bank just decides you can't have your money" is a lot rarer.

Edit: see Which? who are always good on consumer issues: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/09/why-banks-are-freezing-... : alleged suspicious activity; https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/22/exclusive-h... inactivity

Traditional British solution: a QUANGO and an Ombudsman.

Re:Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for? by danielscrubs on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @08:22AM (#30346029)
Could you provide links? We have similar rules so I'm a bit surprised...
Re:Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for? by Grustaf on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @02:29PM (#30351423)
Not really, this is people I know personally. I know some of them have mentioned it publicly but can't find any links. Would be in Swedish anyway. I know two people off the top of my head that had their personal accounts suspended for legal political activity, for organizations it's pretty much any organisation on the right side of the spectrum.
Re:Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for? by adolph on Tuesday February 15, 2022 @09:22AM (#30346752)
> people excluded from the banking system has been addressed by statutory regulation

I wonder if the effort behind this is a Baptist and Bootleggers moment. Surely some maybe most want to solve something that they see as a societal problem, others see opportunity a la payday lenders, and others see an opportunity for social control. Maybe the people who see not-banking as a social problem also want to use the end result to "nudge" participants in the right direction.