4 ms·

For some things, you must use paper (or as it turns out, USB). Why the bank decided to use USB for this purpose, instead of paper, is very strange.

TeMPOraL 3y ago
Here in Poland, I've already had several banks and at least one insurer send me CD-ROMs. Never heard of anyone sending USB sticks before, but I'm not surprised. The problem is, approximately no one owns a CD/DVD reader anymore, and there are no modern read-only physical media. With SD cards also going the way of the floppy, USB stick is just about the only medium you can hope most customers have means to read.
- actionfromafar 3y ago
  SD cards are really neat. Theoretically they could have been made with a fixed notch so they would always present as read-only.
  - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
    Since SD cards and USB sticks are both just computers you plug in to a network port on your computer, they could definitely make write-once SD card controllers.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    AFAIK notch is just declaration of intent, like with floppies and magnetic tapes - it's politely asking the reading device to not write to the medium, and it's up to the device to respect it (or up to user to not bridge the notch with a piece of tape). Still, actual write-once (or read/write until hardware fuse is triggered, read-only afterwards) SD cards should be possible to make.
    - vel0city 3y ago
      It depends on the card. Sometimes it is just a suggestion to the firmware, sometimes it physically prevents writes. I've definitely encountered read-only SD cards which I couldn't figure out a way to set it back to RW mode.
Symbiote 3y ago
Danish institutions (including banks) seems fine with PDFs. I think that's shown by the post statistics: around 25 letters received per resident, per year. I can't remember the last letter I received which only contained papers.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Denvercoder9 3y ago
> For some things, you must use paper Do you have a source backing that up? Aside from the local tax collector, which insists on snailmailing me a copy of all correspondence even though they also sent everything to me digitally, I can't even remember the last time I received any documents on paper, and I'm in the EU.
- evandale 3y ago
  5 words: Google search eu durable medium. https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/durable-medium https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/durable-medium https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=788714a1-d7b6-4bef-a976-96a6fc7eb428 https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=788714a1-d7b6... Why did you need a source for this?
  - oittaa 3y ago
    From your link "A PDF can therefore meet the definition of a durable medium."
  - Denvercoder9 3y ago
    Neither of those sources back up your claim that paper (or a USB drive, for that matter) is required in certain cases. The court case cited in your second link even lays out the conditions under which a website can be considered to satisfy the requirements.
yau8edq12i 3y ago
I'm asking for a source. You're just reformulating the statement I asking a source for.

TeMPOraL 3y ago

Here in Poland, I've already had several banks and at least one insurer send me CD-ROMs. Never heard of anyone sending USB sticks before, but I'm not surprised. The problem is, approximately no one owns a CD/DVD reader anymore, and there are no modern read-only physical media. With SD cards also going the way of the floppy, USB stick is just about the only medium you can hope most customers have means to read.

actionfromafar 3y ago
SD cards are really neat. Theoretically they could have been made with a fixed notch so they would always present as read-only.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
  Since SD cards and USB sticks are both just computers you plug in to a network port on your computer, they could definitely make write-once SD card controllers.
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  AFAIK notch is just declaration of intent, like with floppies and magnetic tapes - it's politely asking the reading device to not write to the medium, and it's up to the device to respect it (or up to user to not bridge the notch with a piece of tape). Still, actual write-once (or read/write until hardware fuse is triggered, read-only afterwards) SD cards should be possible to make.
  - vel0city 3y ago
    It depends on the card. Sometimes it is just a suggestion to the firmware, sometimes it physically prevents writes. I've definitely encountered read-only SD cards which I couldn't figure out a way to set it back to RW mode.

Symbiote 3y ago

Danish institutions (including banks) seems fine with PDFs. I think that's shown by the post statistics: around 25 letters received per resident, per year. I can't remember the last letter I received which only contained papers.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Denvercoder9 3y ago

> For some things, you must use paper Do you have a source backing that up? Aside from the local tax collector, which insists on snailmailing me a copy of all correspondence even though they also sent everything to me digitally, I can't even remember the last time I received any documents on paper, and I'm in the EU.

evandale 3y ago
5 words: Google search eu durable medium. https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/durable-medium https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/durable-medium https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=788714a1-d7b6-4bef-a976-96a6fc7eb428 https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=788714a1-d7b6... Why did you need a source for this?
- oittaa 3y ago
  From your link "A PDF can therefore meet the definition of a durable medium."
- Denvercoder9 3y ago
  Neither of those sources back up your claim that paper (or a USB drive, for that matter) is required in certain cases. The court case cited in your second link even lays out the conditions under which a website can be considered to satisfy the requirements.

yau8edq12i 3y ago

I'm asking for a source. You're just reformulating the statement I asking a source for.