Bonum Certa Men Certa

Our Collective Privacy is Under Unprecedented Attacks and Privacy is Now Conflated With Bad Hygiene, Not Just Criminality

Are people who value their privacy a public health hazard? Masks are more effective and they actually enhance privacy.

Pauly's Grandma has the hot fire meme: Trust 'Hey hi' to organise your life; That's my bloody data!



Summary: At warp speed the "War on cash" or "War on anonymous transactions" is moving ahead; now that COVID-19 infects a lot of people we're led to assume that mass surveillance saves lives not because of counter-terrorism but because of contact-tracing or whatever (in practice it's hardly effective, but it's conditioning people to give up any remnants of their privacy)

THE latest article (or two) by figosdev speaks of malicious devices such as listening devices -- a subject we've long spoken about. People's privacy is under attack, even more so during 'COVID-19 era' with quarantine and lock-downs.



Last week the BBC published "Coronavirus card payments: Bakery manager sacked for accepting cash" (there were follow-up articles like this one). Two days ago I experienced something similarly awful. My wife and I were turned away by two coffee shops (in a row) for insisting on paying with cash (we have cards with us, but can people not have a simple drink anonymously anymore?). They also try to push people to install "apps" (malware), either for tracking or for ordering (or both). I never saw such a thing before. Suddenly... twice in a row, on the same day, 10 minutes apart. Two years ago I heard about a Raspberry Pi shop (down south) bragging about being "cashless", but not this. Not coffee shops...

"They also try to push people to install "apps" (malware), either for tracking or for ordering (or both)."Need I install an "app" (or carry a so-called 'phone') just to order a drink? What has society come to?

A manager of another coffee shop (who accepts cash and also uses a plain old calculator for billing, along with pen and paper) later explained to me that those other shops are dishonest; they're nowadays exploiting the pandemic to save money associated with cash handling while claiming that retaining no cash 'on site' would also discourage break-ins. We spoke in length about it and it was very insightful. Don't fall for the claim that 'cashless society' would somehow discourage crime. It harms the homeless who beg for change, it's really bad for senior citizens, and it harms people who are already poor and marginalised (unable to even open a bank account). This is class warfare.

"It’s about saving money on cash handling."The idea that cash payments are 'dirty' and not acceptable for health reasons is also misunderstood. There is this lie; it's shaming people who pay with cash while glorifying those who do not as "Smart" (for giving away their identity when they absolutely don't need to). It's about getting as much surveillance as they can get. It's not about health. In many places that now reject cash they give food with their hands, cook the food with their hands etc. The notes and coins are not the biggest risk. It’s about saving money on cash handling. Counting coins, notes and getting armed officers in special vehicles to pick them up isn't free. It's also about advertising, e.g. through "apps" that follow one around. It's supposed to result in brand loyalty while in practice alienating so many. See the reactions in the BBC reports. That's rather telling...

Once (or if) more shops are pushing against payments with cash they'll try to force people to use machines and "apps"; they try to get customers to replace tellers/cashiers and then they'll moan that there are "no jobs left..."

"So-called 'cashless' society is not something to strive for; it's not smart."This is not about hygiene at all. It's mostly about outsourcing/offloading the service to the customers. In shops that sell groceries they call it "self service" (checkout done by oneself, probably with a machine that many people's hands already touched, so out the window goes the tale about "hygiene").

The most painful thing about what happened two days ago is that even a place that we liked (for years) now refuses to deal with cash. There are no fallbacks offered/available. It used to be a good place to drink or dine, but now they're rude, they try to get people to use an "app", and they totally refuse to accept any cash payment (they almost give a dirty stare if you try). They basically discriminate against people; hey, might as well deny disabled people service because that doesn’t suit their business model. Because it is "too much trouble..."

You know something is wrong when all you want to do is order something to drink (like morning tea) and if you don't have a bank account and carry a card that reveals your ID, then they just simply won't serve you and then get all smug and rude. So-called 'cashless' society is not something to strive for; it's not smart. Over the years I've written endlessly about checkouts with no members of staff (RMS spoke about it even longer than I have), public transport that refuses to deal with cash and now -- because of one crisis -- they're introducing another colossal crisis. Those who stand in their way they're portraying as a risk to public health. The "what have you got to hide?" line is turning into "why are you killing people?"

Recent Techrights' Posts

Drug Addiction is a Real Problem, It Destroys Families
a rather sensitive matter
 
Links 07/06/2025: Slop Companies Retain All Private Data, More Books Banned in the US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/06/2025: "A Monk's Guide to Happiness" and "Wireless Earbuds"
Links for the day
Links 07/06/2025: More Rumours of Mass Layoffs in Microsoft's XBox Division, New COVID Variant
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IV: Political Scrutiny and Errors/Inconsistencies in Official Documents
When such organisations receive scrutiny they start focusing on cover-up and muzzling of facts (or crushing people who say the truth)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 06, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 06, 2025
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, Planet Ubuntu, Anti-Linux FUD, and Microsoft SPAM
It's not easy to altogether avoid take articles these days
Gemini Links 06/06/2025: "MBA Tear" and Slop ('AI') as Plagiarism
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2025: "Convicted Felon and MElon Trade Insults" and Europe Snubbed by US Again
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2025: Microsoft XBox Bracing For More Mass Layoffs, Climate Disaster, Fake 'Money' Tokens From US President
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/06/2025: Vanishing Cultures and MElon Implosion
Links for the day
Extortion is a Crime, Even If You're Based in Another Continent and Work for Microsoft
reported to British authorities
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025