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Publicly-funded infrastructure must accept public money. This increasing trend towards exclusively accepting electronic payment with private money: - unjustly
by kyboren 3y ago
Publicly-funded infrastructure must accept public money.
This increasing trend towards exclusively accepting electronic payment with private money:
- unjustly enriches the payments cartel
- excludes unbanked people, privacy-conscious people, and conscientious objectors from the fractional reserve banking scam--all of whom ought to have equal access to public infrastructure
- presents unnecessary resiliency and national security risks--if the payments system goes down, no payments can be made
On a related note, this trend is particularly acute in the EV charger space. Whereas every gas station accepts cash, practically no EV charging station accepts cash. This will have the same effects on EV ownership and mobility as I listed above. And in addition, undocumented people will face serious risks charging their EV at a public charging station once ICE catches on.
It's a huge and definitely under-reported shift in our societal status quo, especially given the contemporary hyper-focus on underprivileged groups, equity, and inclusion.
- sneak 3y agoEVs share their unique identifier with the charger, so the privacy issue remains even if all the chargers get bill feeders. ICE will still be able to track anyone they wish this way. Every time you plug in an EV it creates a data point (location, timestamp, vehicle ID) in an ongoing tracklog.
- Teever 3y agoI would imagine that it's the same for a significant portion of gas stations that have security cameras that automatically read and store plate numbers.
- thejazzman 3y agoPretty sure police/parking/etc vehicles do this in real time. We've had low fidelity tracking of everyone for awhile I'm surprised we don't have license plates on our roofs yet but I'm sure it's coming real soon
- out-of-ideas 3y agonot really needed; cell phones do the tracking already
- sneak 3y agoCell phone identifiers (both IMEI and IMSI) are easily and cheaply rotated for privacy. Car VINs are not. Also, VINs and number plates are linked to (someone’s) strong government ID. Mobile phone IMEIs and mobile plan IMSIs are not; both can be obtained anonymously for cash, and given away or traded without a trace.