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This is my common issue with "free" services. It's free, but you have to input your credit card. Ah and also, if your website blows up, such as from being top 1

This is my common issue with "free" services. It's free, but you have to input your credit card. Ah and also, if your website blows up, such as from being top 10 on HNews, you'll have to pay, but don't worry about that now.

ttt0 6y ago
I have a Google account for like 14 years or so, although I no longer use it for anything other than YouTube. Yesterday I tried to watch some age restricted video on YouTube and they've suddenly asked me to confirm my age by either giving them my credit card details or a scan of my ID. Nothing that mpv with youtube-dl couldn't solve, but still.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
  > asked me to confirm my age by either giving them my credit card details or a scan of my ID. These people have no shame. Frankly, I wonder how far they will go.
  - noisem4ker 6y ago
    You mean politicians? Governments play a role in mandating age verification. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10070779#zippy=%2Cif-youre-in-the-european-union-eu-european-economic-area-eea-switzerland-or-united-kingdom https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10070779#zippy=%2C...
    - ttt0 6y ago
      So on one hand you have GDPR to protect your privacy and on the other they made it so you have to give up your entire identity to them anyways. Brilliant. But let's also not forget that Google is (was?) parsing your banking info from your emails with transactions and purchases, and there wasn't even any option to turn it off.
      - noisem4ker 6y ago
        I think the information they get from your ID isn't supposed to be used other than to set an "age verified" bit on your profile.
jacurtis 6y ago
One trick I have used to overcome this is to use a virtual card service. If you have a Capital One card, you get this for free (download "Capital One Eno" extension), but there is also Privacy.com which does the same thing linked to any bank account. So when someone needs a credit card, I will generate a virtual card (right inside the browser plugin, its really slick and easy) for that website. They will verify the card, and then I can go and deactivate that card. At least with Capital One you can keep the virtual card open, but just deactivated so it declines if they try to charge it. If you ever decide you want them to charge you then you go flip the switch and the card number works again for that site. I generate a different virtual card for every online subscription. This allows you to get around the credit card wall, without fear of them actually being able to charge the card. I also use this trick for any annual membership type things. I will put in a virtual card number to pay the annual fee, then after they charge the fee I will deactivate that virtual card (but not delete it). Now if a year from now they charge the card without warning me, it will decline. They usually send you an email saying it declined, at which point you can either leave that card deactivated and you now easily cancelled the service, or you want to keep the service you can go and activate that card back up and the next time they try to charge the card again (usually 48 hours later or so) it will go through. If anyone knows of other ways to create virtual cards, please let me know. I am currently using Capital One's virtual cards because 1) it is free if you have a Capital One credit card, 2) it allows unlimited virtual cards, 3) their browser extension is actually really slick at auto-generating cards and filling in the card numbers for you. I have looked into Privacy.com which actually offers a lot more granular control over your virtual cards. But you have to pay monthly for the service and get a limited number of cards, so I stick with Capital One. I have a Capital One card that I don't use for anything other than online subscriptions and virtual cards. But I would love to know if there are other options out there that I could consider.
- judge2020 6y ago
  > If anyone knows of other ways to create virtual cards, please let me know. privacy.com (https://privacy.com https://privacy.com, or If you want to use a referral, privacy.com/join/NPNDJ ) is also free and works across any bank/debit card, although just recently they started monetizing by limiting free accounts to creating 12 virtual cards a month, so if you need more it's $10/mo. https://privacy.com/pricing https://privacy.com/pricing > This allows you to get around the credit card wall, without fear of them actually being able to charge the card. Note that services can see if a card is virtual and might block them from signing up for free trials. Digital Ocean, for example, does this to prevent referral fraud. Netflix also used to block virtual cards from signing up for the free trial when they had one.

ttt0 6y ago

I have a Google account for like 14 years or so, although I no longer use it for anything other than YouTube. Yesterday I tried to watch some age restricted video on YouTube and they've suddenly asked me to confirm my age by either giving them my credit card details or a scan of my ID. Nothing that mpv with youtube-dl couldn't solve, but still.

dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
> asked me to confirm my age by either giving them my credit card details or a scan of my ID. These people have no shame. Frankly, I wonder how far they will go.
- noisem4ker 6y ago
  You mean politicians? Governments play a role in mandating age verification. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10070779#zippy=%2Cif-youre-in-the-european-union-eu-european-economic-area-eea-switzerland-or-united-kingdom https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/10070779#zippy=%2C...
  - ttt0 6y ago
    So on one hand you have GDPR to protect your privacy and on the other they made it so you have to give up your entire identity to them anyways. Brilliant. But let's also not forget that Google is (was?) parsing your banking info from your emails with transactions and purchases, and there wasn't even any option to turn it off.
    - noisem4ker 6y ago
      I think the information they get from your ID isn't supposed to be used other than to set an "age verified" bit on your profile.

jacurtis 6y ago

One trick I have used to overcome this is to use a virtual card service. If you have a Capital One card, you get this for free (download "Capital One Eno" extension), but there is also Privacy.com which does the same thing linked to any bank account. So when someone needs a credit card, I will generate a virtual card (right inside the browser plugin, its really slick and easy) for that website. They will verify the card, and then I can go and deactivate that card. At least with Capital One you can keep the virtual card open, but just deactivated so it declines if they try to charge it. If you ever decide you want them to charge you then you go flip the switch and the card number works again for that site. I generate a different virtual card for every online subscription. This allows you to get around the credit card wall, without fear of them actually being able to charge the card. I also use this trick for any annual membership type things. I will put in a virtual card number to pay the annual fee, then after they charge the fee I will deactivate that virtual card (but not delete it). Now if a year from now they charge the card without warning me, it will decline. They usually send you an email saying it declined, at which point you can either leave that card deactivated and you now easily cancelled the service, or you want to keep the service you can go and activate that card back up and the next time they try to charge the card again (usually 48 hours later or so) it will go through. If anyone knows of other ways to create virtual cards, please let me know. I am currently using Capital One's virtual cards because 1) it is free if you have a Capital One credit card, 2) it allows unlimited virtual cards, 3) their browser extension is actually really slick at auto-generating cards and filling in the card numbers for you. I have looked into Privacy.com which actually offers a lot more granular control over your virtual cards. But you have to pay monthly for the service and get a limited number of cards, so I stick with Capital One. I have a Capital One card that I don't use for anything other than online subscriptions and virtual cards. But I would love to know if there are other options out there that I could consider.

judge2020 6y ago
> If anyone knows of other ways to create virtual cards, please let me know. privacy.com (https://privacy.com https://privacy.com, or If you want to use a referral, privacy.com/join/NPNDJ ) is also free and works across any bank/debit card, although just recently they started monetizing by limiting free accounts to creating 12 virtual cards a month, so if you need more it's $10/mo. https://privacy.com/pricing https://privacy.com/pricing > This allows you to get around the credit card wall, without fear of them actually being able to charge the card. Note that services can see if a card is virtual and might block them from signing up for free trials. Digital Ocean, for example, does this to prevent referral fraud. Netflix also used to block virtual cards from signing up for the free trial when they had one.