You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
44 points

This thread is a dumpster fire. Can someone explain to me why i should be concerned about the tracking of payments that as an average person will not happen outside of buying huge stuff like a car? While no one is forced to answer me i would like you to refrain from vague statements like “this is attacking your privacy”, because i am interested in how. If you think its obvious feel free to ignore.

I think the biggest point that i could see being a problem is the crypto stuff because i once made a anonymous donation via monero (that because i was concerned but the target needed privacy). It was about 30€ or something. Would that be illegal under the new guidelines? And if so, why would i care, since it is supposed to be anonymous.

permalink
report
reply
34 points

Anonymity is important for various reasons. You can’t predict everything bad a government will try to do to stifle freedom that a person may want to avoid. Off the top of my head, I could see someone trying to pay for an abortion or something like that in a southern state where it’s illegal, for health reasons to save their own life.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

I think this is actually a very good example, thank you.

People from europe sometimes come a long as assholes (“wE aRe NoT iN tHe ShItTy UsA”) while ignoring that political stability is not guaranteed. Neither is democracy. Sitting here germany i look very nervously at the many countries shifting to the right and getting more authoritarian.

I pray to all gods that the times we live in wont be very interesting for historians to come…

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*

I think that’s a big reason I’m so pro-privacy. I’m sure if the US weren’t a couple steps ahead of you guys towards fascism, I’d prioritize other things, too. Hopefully you all can stop the march towards the right of your government before it gets worse.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-17 points

This is Europe not that dumpster fire of a country.

permalink
report
parent
reply
28 points
*

The same Europe that is home to Orban and Vucic and Erdogan? Yeah, good thing you never elect right-wing ideologues with a penchant for authoritarianism.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

To me the problem is that you wouldn’t be able to buy a car anonymously anymore, while it leaves the really rich pretty much untouched.

Art is a well known angle for money laundering or giving someone a huge sum of money pretty much without any regulation. Contracts for construction or even consulting are another way.

I don’t have access to this kind of playground - chances are, you neither. But the people supposedly targeted by this kind of law (corrupt politicians, organised crime, …), do have access to these things and are therefore not impacted.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

You have to register a car anyway. Where exactly is the problem?

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

nothing to hide nothing to fear, huh?

And i thought at least after Snowden we learnt this is bs…

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

I use Monero for donations too on a regular basis. From what I understand, the people accepting donations would no longer be allowed to sell them to professional platforms (silly as those are the ones KYCing).

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I think they would be. If they’re operating as a business, the requirement is that their wallet(s) is at a custodian, so all transactions can be audited. You could still donate to that charity, and that charity would still be able to sell them or use them to buy stuff from another entity, but there would be a paper trail for the charity and the businesses they interact with. It doesn’t impact the person donating, only the receiver.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

That would make sense. Thx

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Let’s say you have political beliefs and would like to donate to such causes, March against genocide, stand with local essential workers, union fee. Some places like Hungary might be very dangerous if everyone knows what you spend money on.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

You don’t need it right up until you need it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points
*

“It’s not about me so I don’t care”

Principles

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Depending how inflation goes €3k limit will soon be in the territory of regular smartphone price or any slightly more expensive household purchase. AFAIK €1k 3 decades ago would be about €3k now.

That is assuming no one tries to push the limits lower, which is almost guaranteed to happen.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Well I’m not in the EU, but in my situation I live in a shithole in the US called Tennessee. I have cancer that can be removed, but I don’t have the quarter of a million for the surgery. It’s been impossible to get a surgeon to even look at me, 2 years looking and still no surgeons will even let me in their office.

I need medications but the med I need the most is $8000 a month, it suppresses my autoimmune system and alows me to heal. My cancer is vary rare, it’s called a neuroendocrine tumor, it’s caused by extreme stress, this is because I’m a natural born empath, but saying that out loud usually gets a knife in my back from anyone near me carrying dark energy.

But to get to the point, I can get some meds occasionally for cheap, as long as they’re sold for cash, but if that gos away then I definitely will die much faster. Seems on par for the life I’ve lived, care about everyone, then have everyone try to kill me.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Yeah i have heard about crypto being used to get cheaper medication, but i had forgotten, so thanks for taking your time and sharing this example.

I wish you the best health possible, better and cheaper medications and people that make your life better

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Thanks, I’m vary used to it by now, but still appreciated.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-4 points

So, because the US can’t get its shit together and you can’t get medical help for neither cancer nor psychological issues, the EU - with pretty good universal healthcare - should allow cash payments without limit?

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

Hey bud I’m glad narcissism, is working out for you. I really hope you’re old so it don’t catch up.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

There isn’t really. Most people are unaware that most crash transactions and withdrawals anywhere close to those amounts will almost always have to be reported to the government of whatever country you’re in. But, you know, EU bad…

There’s no wholesome reason to need 10k in cash. Even the examples here of paying for an abortion is a problem with reproductive freedom and not cash. You’re not suddenly going to get away with it because you “sneakily” withdrew 10s of 000s in cash, right before you travelled to a state where abortion was legal. Political donations can be made in small, repeated sums. Specifically, as they dont sell large value items.

Unless you’re a hired assassin, a paedophile network, a corrupt politican or a drug cartel it’s not going to effect your business.

In reality, most of the nay sayers are people who take cash payments for the work they do to avoid paying the taxes the rest of us have to pay, for the things we all use.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points
  • tacking of payments gives those in power (banks, [bad] governments,…) Mechanism to completely profile and manipulate you. Your spendings says EVERYTHING about you. You might not care because you’re living in peaceful and stable (e.g. not in economic crisis like Venezuela) times, but the world and many governments are visibly changing for the worst. It gives them unlimited power to introduce any kind of taxes and fines or means of blocking you from moving away with your money to somewhere else. You don’t agree? They can still get to your money.
  • limiting cash or anynomous payments takes away your financial freedom and strongly increases your dependency on banks. Banks put limits on your money that you can’t fully control, they block your transactions for whatever they find suspicous. They can charge you whatever they want. There’s a lot of corruption and money laundering with banks, that are the the most regulated institutions in the world ( except for armies probably), proving that even with a lot of control and legislation, those in power can still do whatever the fuck they want. Banks also take risks with your money and there have been crisises caused by them before. Most of them invest in oil, war and other ventures that are profitable for them. They manipulate markets for profit and for the worse of the common man. There’s a lot you can read about those things. Becoming so strongly dependant on banks give governments limitless power on what to do with your money and block it whenever they want. Truckers protested against government in Canada => bank accounts blocked.

Whether or not some or all of these examples matter to you, one thing you have to understand and always defend is: you are the boss of your of money. Your ownership and control over your money is evenly linked to how much freedom you have.

Another thing you also have to understand, even if you think full visibility and control for governments is a good thing to solve crime, corruption and/or money laundering: there are and have ALWAYS been black markets. And the worse countries are off, the stronger these markets become.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Privacy

!privacy@lemmy.ml

Create post

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
  • Don’t promote proprietary software
  • Try to keep things on topic
  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

Community stats

  • 4.3K

    Monthly active users

  • 2.9K

    Posts

  • 78K

    Comments