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Yes. And your cellular provider could send text messages "from" you. Your email host could randomly delete all your emails. Your credit card provider could buy

Yes. And your cellular provider could send text messages "from" you. Your email host could randomly delete all your emails. Your credit card provider could buy stuff on your account. But they don't because they're all enormous companies with thousands of employees. The negative PR would be instant and overwhelming, and the sheer amount of staff would render trying to do it secretly, ineffective. There is cautious, and there is paranoid.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> Your credit card provider could buy stuff on your account. This example is unlike the others; your credit card provider already buys everything that goes on your account. For that to make any sense, they'd need to convince you to pay them "back". > But they don't because they're all enormous companies with thousands of employees. The negative PR would be instant and overwhelming, and the sheer amount of staff would render trying to do it secretly, ineffective. And this is just untrue. Nobody even remembers Amazon retroactively deleting sold copies of 1984 from their customers' internet-connected Kindles. We're swimming in devices that the manufacturer won't let us access right now, but the PR hit from doing what they're already doing is too large for them to... continue doing it?
- butlerm 5y ago
  Credit card providers not only do not buy anything that goes on your account, they do not pay for anything that goes on your account. They transfer funds for purchases that you make, and make payments on your behalf. As such they are neither the buyer nor the payor in any credit card transaction.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    They are the payor in every credit card transaction. Merchants aren't waiting for you to pay your credit card bill. The provider gets paid back when you do that. That's why it's called a "credit" card.
    - butlerm 5y ago
      This is semantics, but the payor in a commercial transaction is normally considered to be the customer / purchaser regardless of whether anyone anywhere extends credit to them. It is their name on the account. The credit card issuer doesn't appear in the vendor's accounting system, they count the payment as having been made by the customer purchaser. It is only for relatively limited purposes (ones that approximately no one ever thinks about) that the credit card issuer is considered the payor. The merchant vendors generally don't care, don't know, and don't record. As if they are going to care whether the customer uses a Capital One credit card or one issued by his or her local bank.
- LeoPanthera 5y ago
  > And this is just untrue. Nobody even remembers Amazon retroactively deleting sold copies of 1984 from their customers' internet-connected Kindles. I do. And the answer to "Am I the only one who..." is always "no". Hell, it's even on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle#Removal_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle#Removal_of_Ninet...

thaumasiotes 5y ago

> Your credit card provider could buy stuff on your account. This example is unlike the others; your credit card provider already buys everything that goes on your account. For that to make any sense, they'd need to convince you to pay them "back". > But they don't because they're all enormous companies with thousands of employees. The negative PR would be instant and overwhelming, and the sheer amount of staff would render trying to do it secretly, ineffective. And this is just untrue. Nobody even remembers Amazon retroactively deleting sold copies of 1984 from their customers' internet-connected Kindles. We're swimming in devices that the manufacturer won't let us access right now, but the PR hit from doing what they're already doing is too large for them to... continue doing it?

butlerm 5y ago
Credit card providers not only do not buy anything that goes on your account, they do not pay for anything that goes on your account. They transfer funds for purchases that you make, and make payments on your behalf. As such they are neither the buyer nor the payor in any credit card transaction.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  They are the payor in every credit card transaction. Merchants aren't waiting for you to pay your credit card bill. The provider gets paid back when you do that. That's why it's called a "credit" card.
  - butlerm 5y ago
    This is semantics, but the payor in a commercial transaction is normally considered to be the customer / purchaser regardless of whether anyone anywhere extends credit to them. It is their name on the account. The credit card issuer doesn't appear in the vendor's accounting system, they count the payment as having been made by the customer purchaser. It is only for relatively limited purposes (ones that approximately no one ever thinks about) that the credit card issuer is considered the payor. The merchant vendors generally don't care, don't know, and don't record. As if they are going to care whether the customer uses a Capital One credit card or one issued by his or her local bank.
LeoPanthera 5y ago
> And this is just untrue. Nobody even remembers Amazon retroactively deleting sold copies of 1984 from their customers' internet-connected Kindles. I do. And the answer to "Am I the only one who..." is always "no". Hell, it's even on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle#Removal_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Four https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Kindle#Removal_of_Ninet...