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Facebook (or a consortium of companies, whatever this is) controlling a significant global currency feels like a dystopian nightmare. It's one of very few thing
by crispyporkbites 7y ago
Facebook (or a consortium of companies, whatever this is) controlling a significant global currency feels like a dystopian nightmare. It's one of very few things that genuinely worry me.
- djohnston 7y agoreally? libra is the thing that keeps you up at night?
- save_ferris 7y agoNot OP but sure. Having both a vast trove of data on user behavior, emotions, and financial background coupled with its own financial system is deeply concerning.
- bpfrh 7y agoI don't really understand that point. If facebook wants to control users and their financial data, wouldn't it be easier to simply make a fintech? I mean, sure libra gives them more data, but the same could easily be reached if facebook founds a fintech? With the current libra afaik they only have 1 seat out of 28 so less control than with a fintech. With libra you could at least control more than with a fintech.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- crispyporkbites 7y agoCan you imagine getting a mortgage from Facebook? Or having your salary paid into your WhatsApp account directly? Having Zuckerberg maintain your pension? Now imagine doing that and being a non-US resident. Who are you going to contact when something goes wrong? Facebook won’t pick up the phone, you can’t vote for regulation or changes, at best you’re a number. Just try and use PayPal as a bank account and see what happens.
- hombre_fatal 7y agoTravelers such as myself do some of things all the time like use Paypal as a bank. Without credit history or a good score you can't do much either, and that's pretty frightening. In Vancouver you need a credit card (not debit card) just to park your car. So yes, I'd love another competitor to all the holes that the existing system has. A lot of these comments just seem a bit... sheltered. Like wondering why people go to Mexico for dental care because your stellar white collar insurance covered 100% of your dental surgery. The current system has major issues. And btw, I'd gladly compare mortgage terms from my bank vs from Zuckerberg.
- ohiovr 7y agoLose your facebook account and you totally lose your ability to do business, get paid, or just participate in the economy. Facebook wants to be more powerful than governments. People that want that kind of power love to use it.
- root_axis 7y agoHuh? Why would losing your Facebook account mean "you totally lose your ability to do business, get paid, or just participate in the economy"?
- ohiovr 7y agoWe are talking about a global currency. Libra the thing we are talking about. If you dont need facebook at all for that I stand corrected right? If facebook does not have a monopoly on some critical aspect of it I could care less. tell me now so i can just ignore this story along with all the other crimecoins and extortion tools.
- lightgreen 7y agoYou can use a wallet of any other provider from the network if you don’t trust Facebook.
- nikolay 7y agoSo, your craptocurrency, run by Chinese miners and exchanges, is less scary? Gimme a break!
- d4rti 7y agoMy currency, run by the Bank of England, is much less scary, and far more useful.
- lightgreen 7y agoIt is definitely more useful at the moment while there’s no libra, because zonzero is greater than zero. But it is much less useful than it could be. Just paying a small debt (like 20 pounds for a restaurant) to a friend who visited from another country is nightmarish now when your currency is run by Bank of England and your friend’s currency is run by eg FRS, in terms of both fee, time, and numbers of fields need to be filled in the forms. When you need to send these money to your parents in Moldova or Kenya, it’s 10 times more pain. I could definitely use this currency.
- carlosdp 7y agoI agree that a real global currency controlled by a group of corporations instead of (in many cases anyways) elected governments is a concerning concept that we need to really analyze. My issue is that experts right now are instead just dismissing Libra is a dumb idea that will simply never work. It isn't dumb and it definitely could, I wish they would consider that for a second and talk about whether it SHOULD work.
- Grue3 7y agoReplace "companies" with "governments" and you're already living in this "dystopian nightmare". Add to this the fact that two corporations (Visa and Mastercard) are controlling most of money transactions made by regular people.