this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
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Privacy

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Thought of this more recently. The amount of control tech has over credit or debit cards is dangerous. Not to mention a power outage leaves you with nothing. Or if someday companies decide you can't use their credit card certain ways.

Its kind of unfeasible today, but maybe we should be using cash for every possible thing..

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[–] the_abecedarian@piefed.social 37 points 2 days ago (2 children)

we should definitely be lobbying against cashless stores/restaurants

Cashless is another ploy to track everyone in a log so they can be disposed of or defamed when the time comes. Exactly like identity verification

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's already banned in several states. Just need to get something on the national level.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago

also in the EU. but it's hard, there are already countries that are practically cashless

[–] rozodru@piefed.world 9 points 2 days ago

I use cash as much as I can. sometimes you get a discount if you pay in cash in some places. There's a computer parts store near me that does this. If I pay cash I get a discount because it's better for them than paying visa/mc/interac fees I guess.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Plus sometimes credit scores do weird things. At one point I had a credit card with a running balance (bad idea. Don’t do that). I used it for years while I gradually caught up. No problem adding new charges all along. I finally caught up. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking I was in better shape financially ……. And they canceled the card

[–] Blaster_M@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Cash is both good and bad. Good because privacy. Bad because thievery.

[–] PotatoPie@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

If i'll be robber no matter what might as well be robbed by a poor person

[–] tal@lemmy.today 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If it would be a concern for you, I'd imagine that ATMs probably scan bill serial numbers.

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 days ago

Certainly. It still muddies the water.

[–] valar@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 days ago

Yes. Every purchase made on a credit card is tracked and profiled and sold to third parties. You agree to this in the terms of service. That goes double for online payment services like PayPal or Venmo.

[–] Daryl76679@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I always make sure I have a consistent amount of cash in my wallet. Makes it easier to feel confident I can make all but the largest purchases in cash. Also happy cake day!

Thanks! Can't believe its been a year.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm of the opinion that it can be worth it to throw a few stale and sterile bread crumbs out there, curated, in order to divert, that's better than trying to be a ghost. Depends on your threat model.

Use a card for innocuous things. Gas. Occasional groceries. Airplane tickets since it's toured to your ID anyway. Things like that where using cash doesnt really get you any benefit anyway, or where it's vanilla enough that it just makes you seem like any other person.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Happy cake day, almost same as mine!

And yes good idea. Good to poison the well too.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago
[–] zzffyfajzkzhnsweqm@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Digital euro projects claims that it will solve that issue. If they will go with current design it will be more private, better and more convinient than cash. It will work offline p2p and without global transaction tracking. And it will not be dependent on a single company.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

more private than cash, that is not possible. also I don't see how could it work fully offline

Normal cash can be tracked. Each buck has a serial number. While with digital euro it does not have to be that way. While we do not have implementation yet, it most certanly is possible to develop something that is less tracable that cash. One example qould be monero crypto currency that is more private and more anonymous than cash. While I do not think privacy will go this deep, I think Implementation of privacy would be comparable to cash transactions.

About it being offline: If you have a transaction I signed with my private key for example over NFC you do not need it to be online at all. You can always prove I paid you.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_euro

We should for better privacy. But like most things, it’s the convenience that stops most of us.